


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






£ng2>Y Henry ThylotriJrrChfC 




REMINISCENCES 



OF A LONG LIFE 



BY d. M. PENDLETON 



■But call to remembrance the former days. " — Hebrews x : 32. 









LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY \ 

Press Baptist Book Concern. 
1891. 



jyA<Hi NOTnwJ 






Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1891, by 

BAPTIST BOOK CONCERN, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 031675 



DEDICATION 



This volume is dedicated to his children by their 
loving father, The Author. 



Contents, 



CHAPTER I. 
Ancestry — Charles Thompson — Henry Pendleton — My 
Father a Pupil of Andrew Broaddus — Marries Frances 
J. Thompson — Removes to Kentucky — War with En- 
gland. 

CHAPTER II. 
Childhood and Boyhood — Going- to School — School House — 
Going- to Mill — Taking- Medicine— Fond of Play — Bash- 
ful — Hunting. 

CHAPTER III. 
Religious Impressions and Conversion — My Baptism. 

CHAPTER IV. 
Licensed to Preach — Taught School for Some Months. 

CHAPTER V. 

Settlement at Hopkinsville and Ordination — Sickness — 
Baptist State Convention. 

CHAPTER VI. 
Removal to Bowling Green, Kentucky — General Associa- 
tion—Proposal of Marriage. 

CHAPTER VII. 
My Father's Death — My Marriage — Richard Garnett — 
Robert Stockton — Jacob Locke — Birth of a Daughter. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Death of President Giddings — Revival — J. L. Burrows — 
Birth of a Son — Second Daughter — T, G. Keen Becomes 
Pastor at Hopkinsville — Visit to Philadelphia — Canal 
Travel — Triennial Convention. 



vi. Contents. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Objects of Interest in Philadelphia — Independence Hall — 
Girard College — Fair Mount — Laurel Hill Cemetery, 
Etc. — Mr. Clay Nominated for the Presidency — Distress- 
ing 1 Stage Ride from Chambersburg to Pittsburg- — Down 
the Ohio to Louisville — Thence Home by Steamer Gen- 
eral Warren. 

CHAPTER X. 

Mr. Polk's Election — Texas Annexed — War with Mexico — 
Treaty of Peace — The Question of Emancipation in 
Kentucky — John L. Waller — Western Baptist Review. 

CHAPTER XI. 
Meeting- at Green River Church, Ohio County — Removal to 
Russellville— Birth of Our Third Daughter — Return to 
Bowling Green — Revival Under the Preaching of J. R. 
Graves — Birth and Marriage of Our Second Son. 

CHAPTER XII. 
Removal to Murfreesboro, Tennessee — Union University — 
Theological Department — President Eaton and Wife — 
Tennessee Baptist and Southern Baptist Review — 
Charge of Anti-Slavery Sentiments Brought Against 
Me — A Little Discussion with Alexander Campbell. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Civil War— The States' Rights Doctrine— The Position 
of the United States — The Overthrow of Slavery God's 
Work — Slavery in Kentucky and Tennessee. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Leaving Murfreesboro — Exposed to Danger in Going into 
Kentucky — Settlement as Pastor at Hamilton, Ohio — 
Death of My Mother— Desire to Go West— The End of 
the War — Mr. Lincoln's Assassination. 

CHAPTER XV. 
Removal to Upland, Pennsylvania — The Crozer Family — 
The Theological Seminary — Meeting-House Enlarged — 
Great Revival. 



Contents. vii. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Baptist Publication Society — Ministers' Conference — Fifty 
Years in the Ministry — Authorship — Death of Presi- 
dent Garfield and ex-President Grant. 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Mrs. John P. Crozer's Death — Resignation of Pastorate — 
Last Sermon— Winter of 1883-84 in Nashville, Tenn.— 
Wife's Blindness. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Austin, Texas — State House — Monterey — Jubilee of General 
Association of Kentucky — Golden Wedding. 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Return to Upland — Anniversaries at Washington — American 
Baptist Education Society — Mr. Cleveland's Reception — 
Wayland Seminary — Columbian University — Visit to 
Dr. Osgood— Bible Class of My Son— Death of Mrs. S. 
A. Crozer — Conclusion. 

CHAPTER XX. 
Last Illness — Death — Funeral and Memorial Services. 



Reminiscences 



CHAPTEK I. 



Ancestry — Charles Thompson, Henry Pendleton — 
My Father a Pupil of Andrew Broaddus — 
Marries Frances J. Thompson — Removes to 
Kentucky — War with England. 

My information concerning my ancestors goes 
back no farther than to my grandfathers, who were 
natives of Yirginia and of English descent. They 
were worthy citizens and honorable men, on whose 
characters there rests no blemish. My maternal 
grandfather was Charles Thompson, who had a 
number of children, the most prominent of whom 
was William M. Thompson, who, for some years, 
filled official positions, at Washington, under the 
Government of the United States. He was the 
father of Hon. Richard W. Thompson, for many 
years a member of Congress from Indiana, and 
Secretary of the Navy under the Presidency of Mr. 
Hayes. He is now an old man and the most con- 
spicuous member of the Thompson family. In his 
palmy days he was a captivating orator and a special 
friend of Hon. Henry Clay. 



2 Reminiscences. 

My paternal grandfather was Henry Pendleton, 
whose name is mentioned in connection with an im- 
portant meeting of the freeholders of Culpeper 
County, Virginia. I quote as follows : 

" At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants 
of the County of Culpeper, in Virginia, assembled at the 
Court House of the said county, on Thursday, the 7th of 
July, 1774, to consider of the most effective method to pre- 
serve the rights and liberties of America." * * * * * 
"Resolved, That importing slaves and convict servants is 
injurious to this colony, as it obstructs the population of it 
with freemen and useful manufacturers ; and that we will 
not buy any such slave or convict servant hereafter to be 
imported. Henry Pendleton, Esq., Moderator." 

I make this extract, second-hand, from "the first 
volume, 4th Series of American Archives, published 
by order of Congress." It shows that there was in 
Virginia, in 1774, a decided anti-slavery feeling and 
a purpose to oppose the policy of the British Gov- 
ernment in the matter referred to. It is to the 
credit of my grandfather that he presided over the 
Culpeper meeting and gave his influence in con- 
demnation of the wrong and in approval of the 
right. 

My grandfather afterward became a soldier in the 
Revolutionary War, and I have before me a letter 
written by him, dated "Oct. 2, 1780, Guilford, 
North Carolina." The beginning of the letter is in 
these words: "My ever Dear and Loving Wife," 
showing that the spirit of the soldier did not inter- 
fere with the affection of the husband. He expresses 
his gratitude to God that while others had fallen he 



My Father a Pupil of Andrew Broaddus. 3 

had been preserved, and he says to his wife, "I 
hope the Lord has heard your prayers for me." 
This is a suitable recognition of dependence on 
God, and there is something beautiful in the thought 
that while the husband was fighting in the cause of 
liberty the wife was at home, not only caring for 
small children, but praying for the success of that 
cause and the safe return of her husband. Many 
wives in times of war have done the same thing, 
and we shall never know our full indebtedness to 
their prayers. At what time my 'grandfather re- 
turned to his home I am not able to say, but it was 
an occasion of great joy to himself and family. He 
then devoted his attention to the pursuits of agricul- 
ture during the remainder of his life, and died an 
honest farmer and a devout Christian. His posterity 
need not blush in thinking of his name, but should 
strive to be like him in his patriotism and in his 
piety. When such men die earth suffers loss, but 
they are infinitely better off. They are ' ' taken 
from the evil to come " and enter into the blessed- 
ness of "the dead who die in the Lord."" 

My grandfather had four children, one daughter, 
Mary, and three sons, Benjamin, Henry and John, 
the last of whom was my father. }VUiile his brothers, 
devoted themselves to the occupation 1 ' of farmers, he 
had literary aspirations and resolved to acquire an 
education. He became a pupil of the celebrated 



* As the letter to which I have referred is signed Henry Pendleton, 
Jr., and the signature to the Culpeper meeting has not this distinc- 
tion, it is possible that it was nay great grandfather who presided at 
this meeting. It cannot certainly he known. 



4 Reminiscences. 

Andrew Broaddus, of Caroline County, Ya. Mr. 
B. was a popular teacher and the most distinguished 
pulpit orator of his time. His eloquence was often 
charming and irresistible. His sermons were long 
remembered by his hearers and regarded as precious 
treasures. 

My father ever felt his indebtedness to Mr. Broad- 
dus for the assistance he received from him in his 
educational pursuits. He learned from him to ap- 
preciate knowledge more highly than ever before 
and became a respectable scholar for that day, 
though education was not then what it is now. His 
intelligence gained at school and from diligent read- 
ing in subsequent years gave him an influence far 
greater than that of most of his associates. This 
influence is no doubt felt by his posterity and has 
had a beneficial effect on their destiny. 

After leaving the Academy of Mr. Broaddus my 
father taught school for some years, and in teaching 
others added to his stores of knowledge. Tuition 
fees were then meager, but by rigid economy he 
saved some money every year, which he invested 
as judiciously as possible. He looked to that period 
in the future when his expenses would be necessarily 
increased ; for he had decided that it was not best 
for ' r maii to be alone." 

It was while my father was teaching that he be- 
came acquainted with Miss Frances J. Thompson 
and was enamored of her charms. She was an 
•orphan and was living in the family of relatives, 
ohe had a bright, active mind, but her education 



Marries Frances' J. Thompson. 5 

was imperfect, for she labored under the disadvan- 
tages of orphanage. These disadvantages, however, 
did not eclipse her excellences of character, and 
her amiable qualities strongly attracted the admira- 
tion of her suitor. Admiration ripened into love 
and proposals of marriage were made. Judging 
from some things in a diary kept by my father at 
the time, I may say that he was greatly troubled 
with doubt and fear as to the acceptance of his offer. 
The question he had submitted to her was, "Will 
you marry me ? " and when the time for the answer 
came, he said, " Is your response favorable or not ? " 
She timidly, and with a throbbing heart, replied, 
' ' Favorable. ' ' He was thrown into such ecstasy that 
he wrote in his diary the word " F AYOEABLE " 
in glowing capitals. It was, as subsequent years 
indicated, favorable for him and for her. 

In ' ' the course of human events, * ' John Pendle- 
ton and Frances J. Thompson were united in 
marriage in the year ISO 6. They were very happy 
in their new relation, and hope painted the future in 
roseate colors. It is a significant fact that marriage 
was instituted in Eden before the Fall. It was 
therefore, in the judgment of God, essential to the 
perfection of human blessedness ere sin cursed the 
earth. He said, "It is not good that the man 
should be alone : I will make a help meet for him.*' 
Man was alone among animals of beauteous form 
and birds of brightest plumage and sweetest voice. 
Alone amid thornless flowers and richest fruits, 
shady bowers and limpid waters^! Yes, alone, and 



6 Reminiscences. 

why \ Because woman was not there. There was 
a vacuum which neither the inanimate nor the ani- 
mate creation could fill. There was a want to be 
supplied. 

"Still slowly passed the melancholy day, 
And still the stranger wist not where to stray — 
The world was sad ! the garden was a wild ! 
And man the hermit sighed — till woman smiled." 

— Campbell. 

Conjugal bliss was no doubt enjoyed in its highest 
perfection by Adam and Eve in their state of inno- 
cence ; but their descendants may well rejoice that 
while it was diminished it was not destroyed by the 
Fall. There has been much domestic happiness in 
all the centuries, and still conjugal joy cheers the 
family circle and brightens the world. 

The marriage union between my father and mother 
was a happy one in its beginning, and so it con- 
tinued for many years till sundered by the hand of 
death. Each was specially concerned for the com- 
fort of the other, and this is the best recipe for 
happiness in married life. 

Why my father abandoned teaching after his 
marriage, I do not know, but he engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits. He rented what was then known, 
and, I am told, is still known, as "Twyman's 
Store," in Spottsylvania County, Ya. He bought 
his goods in Baltimore and Philadelphia, and I have 
the impression that he sometimes rode to those cities 
on horseback. There were few traveling facilities 



Bemoves to Kentucky. 7 

in those days, and the present generation does not 
sufficiently appreciate its advantages. 

My father's success as a merchant was encourag- 
ing, but after a few years he sold his stock of goods, 
and decided to seek his fortune in what was then 
the new State of Kentucky. By this time (1812) 
there were three children around the hearth-stone, 
and their presence no doubt suggested the necessity 
of providing better for his family than he could do 
in Yirginia. He and my mother consulted on the 
subject, deliberated long, but finally concluded it 
was best to seek a new home. They had many sad 
thoughts about leaving their native State. They 
loved Yirginia, considered the best place to be born, 
and wished it could be the best place in which to 
live and die. It was painful to leave their many 
friends and the graves of their ancestors. 

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead 
That never to himself hath said, 
This is my own, my native land ? " 

When I remember that my parents left the land 
of their birth, encountered the perils of what was 
then called the "wilderness " on their way to Ken- 
tucky, suffered the inconveniences and hardships of 
a sort of pioneer life — all this that their children 
might enjoy better advantages than they had en- 
joyed — no language can express the grateful 
admiration I feel for them. If it is unmanly for the 
heart to palpitate with emotion, then I am unmanly, 
and make no apology for it, but rather glory in it. 



8 Reminiscences. 

If I forget those to whom I owe so much, may ' ' my 
right hand forget her cunning, my tongue cleave to 
the roof of my mouth," and my name be blotted 
from the recollections of men. 

It was but a short time before my father and 
mother left Virginia that they made a public profes- 
sion of their faith in Christ and were baptized by 
Elder Zachary Billingsley. They had been led to 
see their lost condition as sinners against God, they 
repented of their sins, trusted for salvation in the 
Lord Jesus, and openly espoused his cause. 

My father sometimes doubted his acceptance with 
God, but my mother was not troubled with doubts. 
She could say, ' ' I know whom I have believed, and 
am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I 
have committed to Him against that day. ' ' Her 
Christian confidence and cheerfulness had much to 
do with her usefulness in the cause of God. She 
was an unspeakable blessing to her husband and to 
her children. 

As already stated, my parents before their re- 
moval from Virginia, had three children, two 
daughters, Mary and Frances, and one son, and I 
was the son, born at "Twyman's Store," November 
20, 1811. It was during Mr. Madison's Presidency, 
and as my father greatly admired him as a states- 
man I was named for him. Whether the name has 
been of any advantage to me I am not able to say, 
but probably not, as there is not much in a name. 
After their removal to Kentucky there were born to 



War With England. 9 

my parents seven children, namely : John, Caroline, 
Juliet, William, Waller, Emily, and Cyrus. 

It was during Mr. Madison's first term that the 
encroachments of England on American rights be- 
came too flagrant to be borne, and Congress, under 
the leadership of Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, 
declared war. The British government claimed 
what was called "the right of search'' — the right 
to search American vessels on the high seas, to see 
if British subjects were on board ; and, it is said, 
that American seamen were sometimes ' ' impressed. " 
This was regarded an indignity to which American 
self-respect and honor could not submit. War was 
waged for two years, from IS 12 to 181 1, when, on 
December 24th", a treaty of peace was concluded at 
Ghent. There were no telegraphs and steamships 
then, and it required a long time to receive news 
from the other side of the Atlantic. It therefore 
so happened that General Jackson fought his cele- 
brated battle in New Orleans, January S, 1S15, 
after the treaty of peace was made. Men are, in 
some respects, very much like children. This is 
seen in connection with the war under consideration. 
England claimed "the right of search ; " we denied 
it, and the issue was joined. After two years' fight- 
ing peace was agreed upon, but the question which 
brought on the war was ignored in the treaty of 
peace. England did not relinquish the right she 
claimed, and the United States did not insist that 
she should. This was like children's play. "The 
pen is mightier than the sword." In the corre- 



10 Reminiscences. 

spondence connected with the treaty of Washington, 
negotiated in 1842 by Lord Ashburton and Daniel 
Webster, the latter so exposed ' ' the right of 
search " theory that British statesmen have said that 
it can be plausibly advocated no longer. The mat- 
ter stood thus : England claimed the right to exer- 
cise jurisdiction over her subjects. The United States 
acquiesced, but said the jurisdiction could not extend 
beyond British territory. England, however, in- 
sisted that the high seas were embraced in her 
jurisdiction. Webster said no, but that the high 
seas are the property of all nations, and ' ' the flag 
of a vessel is the protection of the crew." England 
does not, of course, in time of peace, claim the 
right to invade the territory of the United States in 
pursuit of her subjects. The existence of an extra- 
dition treaty shows this ; but every part of the high 
seas covered by vessels floating the United States' 
flag is, for the time being, as much the territory of 
the United States as is the soil of any State in the 
Union. It follows, therefore, that as England has 
no right to invade our permanent territory on the 
land, she has no right to invade our protempore ter- 
ritory on the sea. This is the way I argue the case, 
not pretending to give Mr. Webster's argument, for 
I have not seen the Ashburton treaty for more than 
forty years. 

England must have modified her views in regard 
to "the right of search," and hence, in the be- 
ginning of the late civil war, when the Captain of 
a United States' vessel took from a British ship 



War With England. 11 

Messrs. Mason and Slidell, agents of the Southern 
Confederacy, it was regarded by the British govern- 
ment as a flagrant outrage on its dignity. The 
release of the two captured gentlemen was at once 
called for, and a suitable apology demanded. That 
is to say, England wished the United States to 
apologize for doing what she had often done without 
making any apology. Secretary Seward, supreme 
in diplomatic skill, was equal to the occasion. He 
said, in substance, that in accordance with the Eng- 
lish doctrine of "the right of search," Messrs. 
Mason and Slidell had been taken from a British 
ship, and in accordance with the American doctrine 
they would be surrendered. 

This may be thought a digression, and so it is, 
but it has been suggested by my reference to the 
war with England during Mr. Madison's Presidency. 
Then, too, as I am writing for my children and 
grandchildren, I have attempted to place in small 
compass facts with which they could not become 
acquainted without examining many pages of history. 



CHAPTER II. 

Childhood and Boyhood — Going to School — School 
House — Going- to Mill — Taking- Medicine — 
Fond of Play — Bashful — Hunting. 

It was in the Autumn of 1812 that my father and 
mother left Virginia never to return. With sad 
hearts they bade adieu to the scenes of their youth, 
parted with friends, and looked for the last time on 
the graves of their kindred. Those only who have 
had an experience of this sort know how painful it 
is to pronounce the word farewell, break up the 
associations of an old home, and seek a new resi- 
dence in a distant land. Kentucky was then con- 
sidered a distant land, for the point of destination 
was seven hundred miles away. There was an in- 
tervening "wilderness," so-called, to be passed 
through, and it was infested by Indians. The "red 
men of the forest" were objects of terror even to 
grown persons, and the most effectual way of quiet- 
ing the noise made by children was to tell them that 
Indians were probably near. Emigrants were often 
plundered and some were killed. It may well be 
supposed therefore that passing through the "wil- 
derness" excited gloomy apprehensions. 

I do not know how many wagons were provided 
by my father for the accommodation of his family, 

(12) 



Childhood and Boyhood. 13 

but they were under the general superintendence of 
a cousin of his, Robert T. Pendleton, a young man 
determined to make Kentucky his home. In after 
years he often told of the difficulties of the way and 
of the almost impassable roads. I remember hear- 
ing it said that it was sometimes necessary to descend 
hills so steep that the ordinary locking of wheels 
was not sufficient, but that branches of trees were 
fastened to the wagons to make their descent safe. 
This always impressed me as a strange thing, and it 
will so impress all who are familiar with good 
roads. 

After a wearisome journey the trayelers reached 
their new home in Christian County, Kentucky. 
Their number was nine, and among them were three 
young servants — slayes — for nobody then thought 
that there was anything wrong in slavery. My 
father had bought a tract of land, three hundred 
acres, with an unfinished dwelling house, and his 
farming operations engaged his attention for some 
years. I was only a year old at the end of the 
journey, and the servants gleefully told me after- 
ward that I had been knocked down by the wagging 
of a dog r s tail. They thought it something to 
laugh at, and I had no recollection of it. My 
memory goes back no farther than to my sixth year. 
That date (1817) is indelibly impressed on me by a 
visit of Rev. Andrew Broaddus (already referred to) 
to mv father. Mr. Broaddus was then considering 
the question of removal to Kentucky, and was 
elected Principal of an Academy in Hopkinsville. 



14 Reminiscences. 

He, however, decided to remain in Virginia. I re- 
member his walking the floor and calling the atten- 
tion of my mother to a " shirt " which he said had 
been "spun and woven and made at home." He 
referred with evident pride to the fact. While so- 
journing with my father, Mr. Broaddus preached at 
the only regular preaching place in the neighbor- 
hood. It was then, and I believe is now, called 
Salubria Spring. I remember nothing of the ser- 
mon, but I distinctly remember that at its close was 
sung the old hymn beginning, "How tedious and 
tasteless the hours." There was but one line in the 
hymn that riveted my attention. It was this, 
" Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers. " 
The "sweet birds " struck my fancy, and if I had 
known the language of modern childhood I would 
have thought, if I had not said, "splendid." Mr. 
Broaddus came out of the pulpit and passed through 
the congregation "shaking hands " — a thing much 
more common then, even in the South, than now. 
He shook hands with my mother, but of course he 
did not notice so small a child as I. Little did he 
think that more than seventy years from that time I 
would be writing about the matter, with tearful 
eyes, in thinking that of all who composed that 
congregation only two or three are now living. On 
all the rest the stroke of mortality has fallen. 

After some years my father resumed his former 
vocation of Teacher. The neighbors built a school- 
house about a quarter of a mile from his own 
residence on his own land. It was one of the typi- 



School House. 15 

cal school-houses of that day. It was built of 
rough logs, the chinks between which were imper- 
fectly filled and daubed with red clay. There were 
no windows worthy of the name, but parts of logs 
were cut out to let in the light, and panes of glass were 
so adjusted as to keep out the cold. The floor was 
of dirt and the chimney had a fire-place six feet wide 
and four feet deep. The benches were made of 
slabs, and these were the outsides of sawed logs. 
There were no backs to the benches, and everything 
seemed to be so arranged as to keep the feet of 
small children from reaching the floor. This, 
though not so designed, was the refinement of 
cruelty. Not less than six hours a day were spent 
in school, and during that time the small children 
had no support for their backs and feet ! I know 
of no epithet that can describe the injustice of this 
arrangement, and I say no more about it. 

I think I must have been nine or ten years old 
when I first went to school, though I had learned a 
little at home. I was required to devote special at- 
tention to spelling and reading. Noah Webster's 
"Spelling Book " was used, and when I got as far 
as "Baker " I thought my progress considerable, 
but when at the end of the book I was able to spell 
and define from memory, "Ail, to be troubled," 
and "Ale, malt liquor,'' I supposed myself very 
near the farthest limit of scholarship. The course 
of reading embraced Murray's "Introduction to the 
English Reader," the " Reader " itself , and then 
the "Sequel" to it. No other book was read in 



16 Reminiscences. 

the school. In due time Arithmetic, as far as the 
"Kule of Three," "Geography and Grammar" 
were studied, but not thoroughly. My studies were 
often interrupted, for, when necessity required, I 
had to work on the farm. I, too, was the "mill 
boy. " I remember well that about three bushels of 
corn were put into a bag, the bag thrown across the 
back of a horse, and I lifted on the horse. The 
"mill" was four miles distant and I sometimes 
thought I had a hard time of it. If I had only 
known that Henry Clay was called the ' ' Mill Boy 
of the Slashes," it would have seemed quite respect- 
able to go to mill. When the mill stream failed, as 
it did in the Summer, it was necessary to go to more 
distant mills on larger streams. Then my father 
would send his wagon, and his servant "Ben " was 
the driver, while I went along. I remember how 
Ben cracked his whip, and I thought if I ever be- 
came a man, the height of my ambition would be 
reached if I could drive a wagon and crack a whip. 
I saw nothing beyond this. 

I had very few difficulties with my fellow-students, 
though some of them were irritable, and so was I. 
My temper was bad in my boyhood, and when mad, 
the appearance of my face, as I once happened to 
see it in a glass, was frightful. It was sometimes 
necessary for my father to whip me, though I believe 
he never did so in the school. I richly deserved 
every whipping I ever received. I remember well 
my last whipping, when I was thirteen years of age. 
It happened one day that my father wished to avoid 



JBashfidness. 17 

the necessity of teaching in the afternoon, and he pro- 
tracted the forenoon session rather unreasonably, as 
it seemed to me. When we went home I was mad 
and hungry, and when my mother asked, ' ' Why 
are you so late ?" I replied, ''Because father was 
so bad." It was an outrageous thing for me to say, 
and justice human and divine demanded my pun- 
ishment. I was whipped and for the last time, but 
it might have been better for me if I had received 
a few subsequent chastisements. 

I was a very bashful boy. In company I was 
greatly embarrassed and was almost startled at the 
sound of my own voice. I can remember when I 
would go out of my way rather than meet a person to 
whom I would have to speak. No one will ever 
know how much I suffered from foolish embarrass- 
ment, and it was a long time before I recovered 
from it. When I first gained courage to ask a 
neighbor about the health of his family I thought 
the achievement wonderful, and reflected on it with 
satisfaction for some days. I was much afraid of 
thunder and lightning, so that when there was a 
storm at night I would get out of my bed and go 
into the room where my parents were asleep, and 
there I would remain till the storm was over. 
Meanwhile I would pray for divine protection, but 
when the thunder and lightning ceased I thought no 
longer of my dependence on God. I see now how 
inconsistent and wicked I was in the days of my 
boyhood. 

My children may feel interested in knowing that 



18 Reminiscences. 

there is a section of country about six miles long 
and three miles wide, embracing parts of Christian 
and Todd County, in which Jefferson Davis, Roger 
Q. Mills, J. B. Moody, and myself spent some of 
our childhood years. How different has been our 
destiny ! All the world knows about Mr. Davis 
and Mr. Mills has been for years and is now (1890) 
a member of Congress from the State of Texas. 
For almost sixty years I have been preaching the 
gospel of Christ, and I to-day ' ' thank God who 
counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." 
Mr. Moody is also a preacher. 

In looking back to my boyhood, I think of spells 
of sickness I sometimes had. There was no doctor 
in less than ten miles, and my mother administered 
medicine. The two prominent remedies then were 
•' ' Tartar Emetic ' ' and ' ' Calomel. ' ' They were both 
nauseous, especially the former. It required an 
effort to swallow it, and I had to take it in several 
portions, draughts of warm water intervening, and 
O ! how offensive it all was ! The object was to 
produce vomiting, and this followed every portion 
of the medicine I took. My mother held my head 
as I threw up the green bile, and when she thought 
my stomach in a proper condition she gave me a 
little chicken soup, which was highly exhilarating. 
Afterward came warm water with toasted bread in 
it to allay my thirst. However much I suffered 
from fever, I was lectured as to the danger of taking 
a swallow of cold water, and was told of a boy who 
brought on his "death by drinking cold water." 



Fond of Play, Fun, and Frolic. 19 

No one then thought it possible for cold water to 
come into beneficial antagonism with the hottest 
fever, but blood-letting was the resort. I am glad 
that many changes, in the practice of medicine, have 
taken place since the days of my boyhood. 

My children have sometimes expressed the opin- 
ion that I, like Adam, was never a boy. This is a 
mistake. I was a boy fond of play and fun and 
frolic, with sufficient perception of the ludicrous to 
call forth many a laugh. I always appreciated and 
enjoyed a good joke', even if it was at my own ex- 
pense. I was usually cheerful, but sometimes had 
melancholy hours. I thought but little of the 
future and enjoyed the present. I did not neglect 
my studies at school, but anticipated with pleasure 
what was called "playtime." It was delightful to 
sport and romp with my fellows, and I thought it 
no little thing that I could outrun most of them, and 
was quite adroit in avoiding balls that were thrown 
in some of our plays. But enough : my children 
will now believe that I was once a boy. 

It was in my boyhood that I went with my sisters 
to a "singing-school." I remember the teacher 
well. He was a large man and enjoyed in a high 
degree feelings of self-satisfaction. His musical 
abilities were not of the first order, but he thought 
they were and made his pupils believe it. The dif- 
ferent parts of music he called "tenor, treble, and 
base." To show us what he could do, he some- 
times sang what he termed "counter." Seats were 
so arranged that he could stand and walk between 



20 Reminiscences. 

them. I thought it the wonder of wonders that he 
could sing any part he pleased. He could help the 
tenor bench and in a moment go to the failing 
treble, giving it more life, and pass to the drawling 
base which badly needed assistance. We had small 
' ' singing books, ' ' which contained what were called 
' ' patent notes, ' ' and we sang four tunes, ' ' common, 
short, and long meter" with "sevens." Some- 
times there was discord, and the teacher would stop 
everything by stamping the floor. Having explained 
the cause of the discord, he would require us to try 
again. I do not think we learned much, and to hear 
such sounds as we made would now excite the risibil- 
ities of every musician on either side of the Atlantic. 
Within the last sixty years there has been, perhaps, 
as much improvement in music as in anything else. 
Many changes have taken place in human affairs, 
but all changes are not improvements. 

It may be proper for me to say something of my- 
self as a boy-hunter. My father had a shotgun 
which I learned to use, which would not be used 
now, for it had a flint" lock and was not attractive in 
appearance. I often killed squirrels, and this was 
remarkable, for I could not, in taking sight, shut 
one eye and open the other, nor can I yet. In a 
moonlight night I shot an owl that was disturbing 
the chickens in a tree. On but one occasion did I 
shoot a wild turkey. There was a better way to 
capture these turkeys. It was this : A trench about 
eight feet long was dug, wide enough and deep 
enough for the turkeys to pass through it. Then a 



Hunting. 21 

rail pen was made one side of it, crossing the trench 
midway. The pen was covered and a little brush 
laid across that part of the trench that was inside. 
Corn, as bait, was scattered along the trench all the 
way. The turkeys would pick up the corn outside 
and then make their way inside, when, coming up, 
they found themselves in the pen. They looked up, 
anxious to get out, but could not, for they never 
looked down into the trench through which they had 
passed. Poor things, their lives were the forfeit they 
paid for not looking down. This fact is suggestive. 

My way of catching partridges was by means of 
traps, which I set in suitable places on different 
parts of the farm. When I went to a trap and saw 
it down and the birds struggling to get out of it, my 
boyish heart was filled with joy. 

My plan for hunting rabbits was peculiar. On 
moonlight nights, an hour or two before day, I 
would go into the woods with dogs, which would 
very soon find a rabbit and rush in pursuit of it. 
The rabbit would flee for safety to a hollow tree and 
go up the hollow. The dogs would stand at the 
tree and bark. I would go to the tree and run a 
switch up the hollow to see how far the rabbit was 
from the ground. Then with my ax I would cut a 
hole in one side of the tree, pull the rabbit down, 
and put it alive in a bag. I remember that one 
morning I caught four rabbits in this way, and car- 
ried them home alive that they might be more easily 
skinned as soon as they were killed. Their skins I 
sold for a trifle. 



22 Reminiscences. 

It was my business as a boy, between thirteen 
and fifteen years of age, to take care of my father's 
sheep. One of the ewes died, leaving a lamb which 
was given to me, and I raised it, feeding it with 
milk out of a spoon. When it grew up I sold the 
wool from it, and, with the money received, I made 
my first investment. I bought a Bible, and this was 
the first thing I ever bought. I prized it highly 
and found great use for it, as will be inferred from 
the following chapter. 



CHAPTER III. 

Religious Impressions and Conversion — My Bap- 
tism. 

From my childhood I received as true the funda- 
mental facts of the Bible. I never doubted the 
existence of God, nor the incarnation, death and 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believed in an eter- 
nal heaven and an eternal hell. It was my purpose 
from my earliest years to become a Christian at 
sometime, but I thought length of days was before 
me and that I had ample time to prepare for eter- 
nity. My prominent conception of religion was 
that it is the means of escaping hell and getting to 
heaven. Of my obligation to love God and to 
serve him from the promptings of love, I seldom 
had a serious thought. My views were very selfish 
and very mercenary. My first impressions as to 
the importance of Christianity were made by my 
mother. She was more accessible than my father, 
who was somewhat stern and, whether intentionally 
or not, kept his children at a distance. I could 
approach my mother, and even when I had a request 
to make of my father, it was generally done through 
her. She talked to me about Christ and salvation, 
and expressed her desire for me to become a 
Christian. I always listened with respect to what 

(23) 



24 Reminiscences. 

she said, but there was no fixed determination to 
seek the salvation of my soul. The evil spirit of 
procrastination had possession of me, but my pur- 
pose to be a Christian at sometime in the future was 
an opiate to my conscience and silenced its clamors. 
When fifteen years of age I decided to give im- 
mediate attention to the subject of religion. The 
decision was brought about in a very strange way ; 
I know of nothing stranger in connection with my 
life. I visited a boyish companion, older than my- 
self, with whom I had enjoyed the pleasures of sin, 
expecting a renewal of those pleasures ; but, to my 
astonishment, he told me that he wished to be a 
Christian. We talked on the subject of religion and 
as we talked, or rather as he talked to me, I made 
the decision referred to and adhered to it. Several 
years, after I met him, told him that I had made a 
public profession of my faith in Christ, and that my 
religious impressions had continued from the time 
of our conversation. He said in reply, "You have 
been more fortunate than I, ' ' and intimated that he 
was then a careless sinner. I have never heard of 
his becoming a Christian. How marvelous was all 
this ! The sermons I had heard, the advice of 
Christian friends, the talks of my mother, and the 
reading of the Bible had failed to inspire the pur- 
pose to turn to God ; but the conversation of one 
who, so far as I know, lived and died in sin, led me 
to a decision. I pretend not to explain this farther 
than to say that God's thoughts are not as our 
thoughts. 



Beligious Impressions and Conversion. 25 

I resolved to read the Bible regularly and to pray 
every day, and I expected to reach the point of con- 
version within three weeks. Why I fixed on this 
time I never knew, but I thought it would be suffi- 
cient to enable me to ingratiate myself into the favor 
of God. Never was there a Pharisee in Jerusalem 
more self-righteous. At the expiration of the three 
weeks I saw no improvement in my spiritual condi- 
tion, and, indeed, 1 was much discouraged by my 
inability to control my heart and life as I had de- 
termined to do. Still I persevered in seeking 
salvation, or, I may say, in seeking to save myself ; 
for self-salvation was the idea that occupied my 
mind. When the thought at times presented itself 
that I might not be able fully to save myself, my 
plan was for God to do what I could not do. I 
supposed it would be well for my defects to be 
divinely supplemented. 

As time passed on I saw more and more of the 
wickedness of my heart. This wickedness showed 
itself in my rebellious murmurings that I was not 
saved. I thought God ought to save me, or rather 
let me save myself. I had been what was called a 
"moral boy," had never used a prof ane expression ; 
but now I cursed God in my heart and felt that I 
would be glad to annihilate Him. I wonder that He 
did not strike me with some thunderbolt of His 
wrath. I have that period of my life vividly in my 
memory and my soul is humbled within me. I was 
led gradually, month by month, to see myself a 
great sinner without a shadow of excuse for my 



26 Reminiscences. 

sins. My outward sins appeared as nothing com- 
pared with the deep depravity of my heart. I saw 
myself justly condemned by God's holy law and 
richly deserving His displeasure. I fully justified 
God in my condemnation and heartily approved the 
holiness of His law. I loved the righteousness of 
the divine government and wished to be saved if 
my salvation could be in accordance with law and 
justice ; but how this could be I had no conception. 
I thought it impossible and concluded that I must 
be forever lost. I expected to go to hell and fully 
determined there to justify God and vindicate His 
proceedings. I thought I would say to the inhabi- 
tants of that lost world, "God is in the right and 
we are in the wrong, we deserve all that we suffer, 
we have no reason to complain, and let us think 
well of God." I was resolved to say this, was 
never more resolved to do anything. Visionary 
purpose, it will be said ; yes, but the purpose was 
fully formed. Meanwhile I felt what I may call the 
calmness of despair and the tranquility of hopeless- 
ness, and expected so to feel until I dropped into 
perdition. Weeks and months passed slowly away 
and not a ray of light shone on my path. There 
was no promise in the Bible that I could apply to 
my case. My prayer was, "God be merciful to me 
a sinner;" but I did not see how he could have 
mercy on such a sinner. I have intimated that I 
did not wish to be saved uuless God could save me 
consistently with His glory and the claims of His 
righteous law. I thought it would be far better for 



JEleligioas Impressions and Conversion. 27 

me to be damned than for God to compromise the 
honor of His government in saving me. The union 
of justice and mercy in salvation was what I wished 
to be possible ; but I despairingly said, this cannot 
be. While in this state of mind I read a sermon by 
Kev. Samuel Davies from I Cor. i: 22-24: "For 
the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after 
wisdom ; But we preach Christ crucified, unto the 
Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks fool- 
ishness," etc.* This sermon, delivered in 1759, 
which I have recently read, is an excellent one, and 
Mr. Davies was an admirable sermonizer. In the 
discourse now referred to I was specially impressed 
with his remarks on the union of mercy and justice 
in the salvation of sinners through c w Christ cruci- 
fied. " This is shown to be happily possible through 
the atoning death of Jesus, whose obedience and 
blood "magnified the law and made it honorable." 
Having read this sermon I went into a forest to 
pray, and while kneeling by a tree I had new views 
of the way in which sinners could be saved. I saw 
that mercy could be exercised consistently with jus- 
tice through Jesus Christ. I felt a lightness of 
heart to which I had been a stranger for about two 
years. Strange to say, the joy I felt was not on 
my personal account. I was glad that other sinners 
could be saved, but did not think of myself as a 
saved sinner. I knew faith in Christ was indispen- 
sable to salvation, but I ignorantly thought that to 



* Davies' Sermons, in three volumes, my father had taken with 
him from Virginia. 



28 Reminiscences. 

believe in Christ was to believe myself a Christian. 
The latter thing, with my views, I could not do, 
and, therefore, for some weeks considered myself 
out of "the pale of salvation." I was amazed and 
at times alarmed at my peace of mind. I began to 
fear that my "conviction " was gone, and that I was 
worse off than ever. I tried to bring my conviction 
back. I wished to feel again my sense of guilt and 
condemnation. I indulged in soliloquy, though I 
knew not the meaning of the word : "Am I not a 
sinner ? Yes, but Jesus is a Savior. Am I not a 
great sinner? Yes, but Jesus is a great Savior." 
Thus there was something in Christ as the Savior 
which prevented the return of my conviction, kept 
off my sense of condemnation, and rendered im- 
possible the anguish I had felt and was anxious to 
feel again. 

A few weeks passed away and in the providence 
of God I had an opportunity of conversing with one 
of the prominent preachers of that day, Kev. John 
S. Willson. He explained the nature of faith in 
Christ, defining it as a personal and an exclusive 
reliance on Jesus for salvation. He asked me if my 
only reliance was on Christ and I was obliged to 
answer in the affirmative. He told me and con- 
vinced me that I was a believer in the Lord Jesus. 
He also told me that to believe myself a Christian I 
must examine myself and see if I found a corre- 
spondence between my character and the Christian 
character as delineated in the New Testament. 
Thus I saw the difference between believing in 



My Baptism. 29 

Christ and believing one's self to be a Christian, a 
difference I have never forgotten. 

Very soon I was urged to make a public profes- 
sion of my faith in Christ, and on the second Sunday 
of April, 1829, I went before the Bethel Church, 
Christian County, Kentucky, and related my "ex- 
perience," telling the brethren and sisters how I 
had been led to exercise "repentance toward God 
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. " I was re- 
ceived as a candidate for baptism, and as the pastor, 
Rev. William Tandy, was in feeble health, I was 
baptized by Rev. John S. Willson on Tuesday, the 
14rth day of the month. The ordinance was admin- 
istered in the creek not far from the meeting house, 
and the place is sacred to my memory. If my de- 
scendants pass that way at any time, I hope they will 
pause and think of the import of the solemn and 
beautiful ordinance of Baptism, which commemo- 
rates the burial and resurrection of Christ, symbol- 
izes the believer's death to sin and his rising to a 
new life, while it anticipates the resurrection of the 
Saints on the last day. I of course did not, as a 
boy, understand the rich significance of Baptism as I 
do now ; but I thought of my baptism as a profession 
of faith in Christ and a manifestation of my love 
for Him as shown in obeying one of His command- 
ments. I remained for several years a member of 
Bethel Church. It no longer meets at the same 
place, but is now divided into two bands, the one 
worshipping at Pembroke and the other at Fairview, 
the latter retaining the name Bethel. The two 



30 Beminiscences. 

places are about equi-distant from Hopkinsville, the 
former on the Nashville and the latter on the Rus- 
sellville road. All the associations of my boyhood, 
as well as those of subsequent years, cause me to 
feel a special interest in the two churches. 

It is proper to say that in the Spring and Summer 
of 1829 the old Bethel Church enjoyed a precious 
revival, so that the baptismal waters were frequently 
visited and the church received an addition of about 
sixty members. 



CHAPTEK IV. 

Licensed to Preach — Taught School for Some 
Months. 

As stated in the preceding chapter, a precious 
revival was enjoyed by the Bethel Church during 
the Spring and Summer of 1829. I was numbered 
among the earliest converts and took a deep interest 
in those whose conversion followed. It was a 
source of the sincerest pleasure to me to see my 
associates convicted of sin, and to hear them in- 
quiring, "What must we do to be saved?" I 
had never seen a revival before and tried to do 
something in directing "inquirers" to Christ. The 
substance of what I said to them was that as Jesus 
had saved me, he could and would save them. I 
remember when first called on to pray in public for 
anxious souls. I was greatly embarrassed, and even 
alarmed. I trembled at the sound of my voice, and 
after a few petitions, incoherently expressed, I 
closed my prayer with the words, "O Lord, I am 
oppressed ; undertake for me." Some brother fol- 
lowed me in prayer, and when the meeting was over 
I was ashamed to look at those who had witnessed 
my poor attempt to pray. 

As my young companions found peace with' God 
by faith in Christ they united with the church and 

(31) 



32 Reminiscences. 

were baptized. Those were precious occasions 
when converts in the ardor of their earliest love 
went down into the baptismal waters, professing 
their death to sin and their resurrection to a new 
life. The countenances of many of them as they 
came up out of the water were radiant with smiles, 
and brethren and sisters, with extended hands, wel- 
comed them to the joys of Christian service. The 
revival went on till the church received three score 
members. A feeling of sadness comes over me 
now when I remember that scarcely any of those 
sixty converts are in the land of the living. Nearly 
all of them have "finished their course," and, I 
trust, their disembodied spirits are in the paradise 
of God. Why I have been spared till now to refer 
to them, I know not, but I hold them in loving re- 
membrance. 

There were no ' ' protracted meetings ' ' in those 
days and there was seldom preaching more than 
two days together, about every two weeks. Still the 
revival went on and results were certainly as favor- 
able as those connected with " protracted meetings " 
at the present time. 

During the greater part of the years 1829, 1830, 
and 1831 I was at work on the farm of my father, 
and manual labor did not interfere with my Chris- 
tian enjoyment. I call up the fact that one of the 
happiest days I ever saw was spent in plowing 
"new ground. " The roots and stumps made it 
very difficult to hold the plow in its proper place, 
but my soul was full of joy. My thoughts were 



Licensed to Preach. 33 

fixed on that supreme epitome of the gospel con- 
tained in John iii : 16, "For God so loved the 
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." I wondered that God could 
love such a world and that the proof of His love 
was seen in the gift of His Son. I stopped my 
horse and plow and retired to a secret place that I 
might pour forth my soul in thanksgiving to God 
for love so amazing, so infinite. From that day to 
this I have known that religious joy does not de- 
pend on any bodily environment. 

I was in the habit of attending prayer-meetings, 
and sometimes led them. Not having much to say, 
I read largely from the Scriptures, believing that 
this was the best thing I could do. Some of my 
friends were kind enough to say that they were in- 
terested in my way of conducting meetings. 

Time passed on till February, 1830, when, to my 
astonishment, the church licensed me to preach. I 
thought it quite uncalled for, and did not believe it 
possible for me to preach. Sometimes I reluctantly 
attempted to ' ' exhort ' ' at the close of a sermon, 
for it was the custom then for an "exhortation " to 
follow a sermon. Indeed, I often heard two ser- 
mons preached without intermission, and then came 
the exhortation. My exhortations were very short, 
consisting at times of only a few sentences, but 
when I had said all I could think of, I sought relief 
from my embarrassment in prayer. Strange to say, 
when I had done the best I could I had a tranquil 
3 



34 Reminiscences. 

conscience, not because I had done my duty, but 
because I bad attempted to do it. 

Early in the year 1831 I began to teach a school 
in the western part of Christian County. It was a 
small school and I taught only three months. I 
learned that some of my patrons were dissatisfied 
because I did not teach longer than six or seven 
hours in a day, and I gave up the school. When I 
returned home with three dollars in pocket, which 
remained after my board was paid, my sisters were 
sad, and my father looked as if he thought I had 
been predestinated to fail at everything I under- 
took. But my mother, with a burdened heart, 
retired to her place of prayer, and while praying 
was impressed with this Scripture, ' ' Ye are of more 
value than many sparrows." Her countenance be- 
came cheerful and she afterward said that from that 
time she did not doubt that the Lord would provide 
for me. I shall never know how much I owe to the 
prayers of my mother. O, that I could pray as she 
did. Her prayers on earth have given place to 
praises in heaven. 

Months passed away, and on the fourth Sunday 
in September, 1831, I made my first effort at 
preaching. It was at a church called West Union, 
about ten miles west of Hopkinsville. The name 
of the church was afterward changed to Belle Yiew. 
My text was Acts xvii : 30, 31. "And the times of 
this ignorance God winked at ; but now command- 
eth all men everywhere to repent : Because he hath 
appointed a day in which he will judge the world in 



Licensed to Preach. 35 

righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. " 
I said something in a superficial way about repent- 
ance, and urged the people to repent in view of the 
judgment, that they might be prepared for the 
solemn day. To call what I said a ' ' sermon ' ' would 
be flagrant injustice to that term. The next time I 
attempted to preach the text was Hebrews ii : 3, 
' ' How shall we escape if we neglect so great salva- 
tion?" I said a few things about the "great sal- 
vation ' ' and the danger of neglecting it, but my 
performance was wretchedly imperfect. Then when 
I thought of preaching again it seemed clearly im- 
possible ; for I had exhausted my scanty store of 
theology and could think of no other subject on 
which I could say anything. 

After a while, familiar passages of Scripture com- 
ing into my mind took some sort of shape, and I 
attempted to preach on them. But I did not believe 
I could ever be a preacher. I was sorely troubled. - 
I desired the work of the ministry, but my sense of 
unfitness was appalling, and at times I dismissed 
the subject from my mind. I decided positively to 
give up the idea of preaching, but my decision was 
soon disturbed. Just as soon as it was made my 
mind would be shrouded in awful gloom, and I 
found that in giving up the thought of preaching I 
had to give up the hope of heaven. My refusal to 
preach was not compatible with a belief that I was a 
Christian. That was the predicament in which I 
was placed — utterly incompetent to preach, and 
compelled to give up my hope in Christ if I did not. 



36 Reminiscences. 

The agony of those days and nights will never be 
known. "My soul has it in remembrance, and is 
humbled within me." 

After much thought and prayer, I resolved to 
transfer the responsibility resting on me to the 
church that had licensed me. I said within myself, 
I will try to preach, I will do the best I can, and 
when the brethren see that they have made a mis- 
take, they will candidly tell me so, tell me that 
while they do not wish to hurt my feelings, they 
deem it their duty to say to me that I can never make 
a preacher. I thought if the church so decided 
I would be relieved of all sense of responsibility, 
and could with a clear conscience devote myself to 
agricultural pursuits. The church had monthly 
meetings for business, and I waited month after 
month to hear of their decision in my case ; but the 
brethren failed to act. I was painfully tempted to 
doubt their fidelity because they did not stop my 
incipient ministerial career. They let me go on, 
and I have therefore preached for nearly sixtv 
years. 

During the years 1831 and 1832 I accompanied 
different ministers on their preaching excursions. 
Sometimes they gave me an encouraging word, and 
at other times what they said was not complimen- 
tary. One of them, in referring to my attempts to 
preach, said, "You certainly could do better if you 
would try. " Another said, " You are scarcely earn- 
ing your salt." The language of a third brother 
was, "You say some pretty good things, but your 



Taught School for Some Time. 37 

preaching is neither adapted to comfort the saint 
nor alarm the sinner." 

Of course those good men, now in heaven, did 
not know how depressing the effect of their words 
was, and how my spirit was crushed. I refer to 
this matter for the sake of expressing the opinion 
that old ministers should be careful as to what they 
say to young preachers. • 

But the most uncomplimentary and discouraging 
things were not said about me by ministers. It was 
a layman, of whom I heard afterward, that said, 
' ' As God is omnipotent he of course can make a 
preacher of that young man." This exhausted the 
language of depreciation ; for it made the possibility 
of my becoming a preacher entirely contingent on 
the omnipotence of God. 

In October, 1831, I went to Russellville, Ky., 
and became a pupil of Kev. Robert T. Anderson, 
who had charge of a school there. I began to study 
the Latin Grammar, but it was a wilderness to me. 
I did not understand why nouns had so many cases, 
why adjectives were declined, and the conjugation 
of verbs was so complicated. I read a few pages 
from "Historia Sacra," beginning with extracts 
from the book of Genesis. It was not long before 
I was induced to take charge of a little school. I 
did this that I might make some money to meet 
necessary expenses. I had taught only a short time 
when Mr. Peebles, who had charge of a Female 
Academy, proposed to employ me as an assistant, 
agreeing to pay me fifteen dollars a month. I 



38 Reminiscences. 

taught with him four months, and when in the Sum- 
mer of 1832, at the close of the session, I received 
sixty dollars I felt quite rich. While I remained in 
RusseTlville I was kindly treated and invited to board 
for a month with each of the following persons : 
Spencer Curd, George Brown, Thomas Grubbs, 
Edward Kagan, William Owens, and Hon. E. M. 
Ewing, whose wife was a Baptist. I have ever 
felt my obligations to these kind friends. 

Having left Russell ville in the Summer of 1832, I 
returned to my fathers in Christian County, and in 
October of the same year I went with Rev. John S. 
Willson to the Baptist State Convention at New 
Castle. There I saw Messrs. Silas M. Noel, Ryland 
T. Dillard, George W. Eaton, U. B. Chambers and 
other devoted men. Eaton was at that time Pro- 
fessor in Georgetown College, and he impressed me 
as being a very lovely man. We went from the 
Convention to Frankfort, where Dr. Noel was pas- 
tor. It was arranged of course for Willson to 
preach, and, strange to say, Dr. Noel had me to 
preach. He told me, after hearing me, that 1 
"ought to put more life into my sermons." He 
was no doubt correct in this view. We went to 
Lexington and there met, for the first time, Elder 
George Waller, who was one of our prominent 
ministers. While at Lexington we saw Henry Clay, 
at that time a candidate for the Presidency, and I 
trembled in approaching him, so deeply was I im- 
pressed with his greatness. 

At Dr. Dillard's invitation we rode a few miles 



Beturns Home. 39 

in a horse-car on the railroad in process of construc- 
tion from Lexington to Frankfort. This was a new 
thing, the first road of the kind in Kentucky, looked 
upon as a wonder marvelous to behold. 

We returned, Willson to his home in Todd 
County, and I to my father's house, where I re- 
mained till the beginning of the next year. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Settlement at Hopkinsville and Ordination — 
Sickness — Baptist State Convention. 

Elder William Tandy, one of the best of men, 
had long been pastor of Bethel Church, but for 
some years his impaired health prevented his preach- 
ing with any regularity. To my surprise the church, 
in the beginning of the year 1833, invited me to 
preach two Sundays in the month. A similar invi- 
tation came from Hopkinsville and I went there, 
where I remained four years. The arrangement 
was for me to become a student of the Academy 
under the charge of Mr. James D. Rumsey, who 
had a fine reputation as a classical scholar. I was 
to make a special study of Latin and Greek. The 
two churches agreed to give me, each, a hundred 
dollars a year, a sum thought sufficient to pay for 
my board, clothes, books, and tuition. I never 
knew why it was, but at the end of the first year 
the Bethel Church added fifty dollars to my salary, 
so that I afterward received two hundred and fifty 
dollars a year as long as I remained in Hopkins- 
ville. Some may think that this was poor pay ; but 
my deliberate opinion is that the pay was better 
than the preaching. I knew hardly anything about 
the construction of sermons. I did not know there 

(40) 



Settlement at Hopkiasville and Ordination. 41 

was such a word as " Homiletics, " and my exposi- 
tions of Scripture were sadly superficial. I had to 
preach every Sunday and two Saturdays in each 
month, for it was the custom then for churches to 
have monthly Saturday business meetings preceded 
by a sermon. The Saturday sermons were addressed 
specially to church members, while the Sunday dis- 
courses were designed for promiscuous assemblies. 
With all this preaching I had to recite my lessons 
in the Academy five days in the week. It was more 
than any mortal man could do as it ought to have 
been done. All things considered, it is a marvel 
that the churches endured my preaching ; but they 
were content for ' ' patience to have her perfect 
work." If the brethren and sisters had been literal 
descendants of Job they could not have treated me 
more generously. At this late day I feel and 
acknowledge my obligations to them. The mem- 
bers of these churches, with very few exceptions, 
were " sound in faith" and consistent in practice. 
While they did not claim perfection, they "forgot 
the things behind, reached to those before, and thus 
passed toward the mark for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus." In my long life 
I have not met with better men and women. I was 
fortunate in boarding for two years in the family of 
Dr. Augustine Webber, who had more theological 
knowledge than any layman I have known, while 
his general intelligence was quite extensive. 

So far as I know there are only two persons now 
living to whom I preached the four years I resided 



42 Reminiscences. 

in Hopkinsville. The rest have passed away and 
have, I trust, found a home in heaven. "Blessed 
are the dead who die in the Lord." They are free 
from all the incumbrances of the flesh and mingle 
with "the spirits of just men made perfect." 

Another surprise was in reserve for me. The 
church at Hopkinsville, of. which I had become a 
member, called for my ordination. I thought it 
premature, but with great hesitation gave my con- 
sent. The ordaining Council, consisting of Elders 
Reuben Ross, William Tandy, Robert Rutherford, 
and William C. Warfield, met November 2, 1833. 
The examination as to my "Christian experience," 
"call to the ministry," and "views of doctrine" 
was far from being thorough ; but the Council 
seemed to be satisfied' and decided in favor of my 
ordination. The sermon was preached by Elder 
Ross from Hebrews xii : 3, "For consider him who 
endureth such contradictions of sinners against him- 
self, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." 
The impression the sermon made on me was, that 
ministers, to be preserved from discouragement in 
their work, must consider what Christ endured. 
How often have I had occasion to think of this in a 
ministry of almost sixty years ! I here record my 
conviction that the "love of Christ " is the true in- 
spiration to the preaching of the gospel, and that it 
is the highest wisdom to copy His example. 

The men composing the Ordaining Eldership have 
long since fallen "asleep in Christ." Warfield, 
though the youngest, was the first to die, then 



Sickness. 43 

Tandy, next Rutherford, and last Ross. In these 
men of God were exemplified Christian and minis- 
terial excellencies which commanded the respect 
and love of all who knew them. I was not present 
at the funeral of these ministers, but I have been 
told that Elder Rutherford, who had not been known 
to weep before in preaching, was so overcome by the 
death of his "beloved brother Tandy " that he was 
unable to speak, and left the services with Elder 
Ross, whose tears rather helped than impeded his 
speech. 

These ministers of God served their generation ac- 
cording to the divine will, but Elder Ross was 
"easily chief." I have witnessed many impressive 
sights, but I can call up nothing so impressive as 
Reuben Ross, in tears, entreating sinners to be 
reconciled to God. Of commanding person, he ex- 
emplified in the pulpit a solemn and majestic dignity 
that I do not expeet to see again. " The fathers, 
where are they ? ' ' 

Warfield died in 1835, Ross in 1860 and Tandy 
and Rutherford in intervening years. It would 
gratify my curiosity, but it cannot be, to know that 
the glorified spirits of these men of God, amid the 
employments of the heavenly world, have taken an 
interest in my ministerial career. There may be a 
closer connection between earth and heaven than we 
suppose ; but how many things we do not know ! 

While living in Hopkinsville, that is to say, in 
the year 1831, I had the severest spell of sickness I 
ever experienced. I was taken with bilious fever in 



44 Beminiscences. 

August and it was November before I was able to 
preach again. I was reduced to such a state of 
emaciation and weakness that I was unable to 
raise my hands to my head. My friends generally 
thought I would die ; but I did not think my case 
hopeless, and this may have had something to do 
with my recovery. Dr. Webber was my physician 
and did whatever medical skill could do. As 
August was the month in which my sickness came 
on me, I have ever dreaded it more than any other 
month in the year. I have often thought of the 
man who said that he had always noticed that if he 
" lived through the month of June he lived all the 
year." So it has been with me in regard to 
August. 

The year 1835 brought sorrow to my heart : My 
special friend, Rev. John S. Willson, died in August, 
and, as already stated, Warfield departed this life. 
He died in November. Willson was pastor of the 
First Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., then wor- 
shiping on Fifth and Green Streets. He had been 
for a short time Agent of the American Bible So- 
ciety, and while performing his agency became 
acquainted in Louisville and was called to the pas- 
torate of the church named. This was in 1833, and 
his labors were crowned with the blessing of God. 
He was ' ' a burning and shining light, ' ' an attrac- 
tive preacher, full of love and zeal, eloquent and 
transcendent in exhortation. When he died it was 
truly said, "A great man has fallen in Israel." 
The Baptist State Convention met in Louisville in 



Baptist State Convention. 45 

October, 1835, and during its session Dr. Koel 
preached a sermon commemorative of the "Life 
and Work " of Willson. It was an appropriate and 
able discourse, parts of which were very pathetic. 
Wilison died at about forty years of age, and it has 
always appeared to me that he brought on his 
death not only by his unwearied labors, but specially 
by expending unnecessary vocal power in preaching. 
In the greater part of his ministry he indulged in 
vociferation, though his loud voice was by no means 
unpleasant. After his settlement in Louisville he 
attempted to change his manner of preaching, being 
convinced that the deepest feeling is not expressed 
in the loudest tones of voice. It would be well for 
preachers to remember this fact. 

From the Convention in Louisville I went in com- 
pany with John L. Waller (of whom I shall say 
more in another place) and others to the Western 
Baptist Convention in Cincinnati. We went up the 
beautiful Ohio and it was my first experience in 
steamboat traveling. I thought for a time of dan- 
ger, but soon forgot it. The objects of the Conven- 
tion were the promotion of acquaintance and union 
among brethren West of the mountains, and the 
more zealous prosecution of the work of Missions. 
Here I met for the first time such men as S. W. 
Lynd, John M. Peck, John Stevens, and many 
others. 1 never knew why, but the Organization 
was not permanent, and I do not think it had meet- 
ings except in the years 1834: and 1835. It was a 
failure rather than a success. 



46 



Beminiscences. 



Returning to Louisville I again saw the bereaved 
family of my friend Willson and I well remember 
how sad our parting was. Mrs. Willson's face was 
the picture of sorrow and the children were in tears. 
Who knows the crushing grief of a widow's heart ? 
Who can adequately sympathize with children be- 
reft of a loving father's care? But our God is the 
God of the widow and of the fatherless ones. 



CHAPTER YI. 

Removal to Bowling Green, Kentucky — General 
Association — Proposal of Marriage. 

In the latter part of the year 1836 I was called to 
the pastorate of the church in Bowling Green, Ky. 
This call was made in consequence of the lamented 
death of the former pastor, Rev. William Warder, 
who died in August, at the age of fifty years. He 
was an able preacher, happily combining logical 
strength and hortatory power. He had been pastor 
of the church from its organization in 1818. He 
was often the companion of Jeremiah Yardeman 
and Isaac Hodgen in their tours of preaching ; nor 
has Kentucky ever sent forth an abler triumvirate. 
Yardeman was eloquent, Hodgen was effective, but 
in argumentative ability Warder was superior to 
either of them. It is a pleasure to me to say that 
Joseph W. Warder, D. D., of Louisville, Ky., and 
William H. Warder, M. D., of Philadelphia, 
worthily represent the name of their honored father. 
They may well feel satisfaction in the reflection that 
they are the sons of a father whose character was 
unblemished, and the sun of whose life set in a 
cloudless sky. May blessings ever rest on his 
memory! In September, 1836, sermons occasioned 
by his death were preached, at Russellville, by Rev. 

(47) 



48 Reminiscences. 

Robert T. Anderson and myself. Mine was the 
first sermon I ever published, and the text was 
I Thess. iv : 13, 14 : u But I would not have you to 
be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are 
asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which 
have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died 
and rose again, even so them also which sleep in 
Jesus will God bring with him." I greatly desired 
to alleviate the sorrows of the bereaved widow by 
saying something consolatory concerning the pious 
dead. 

I began my ministerial labors in Bowling Green 
the first day of the year, 1837, and continued them 
for twenty years, with the exception of a few 
months. It was considered by many as a phenom- 
enon that the church offered me a salary of four 
hundred dollars a year. No Baptist minister in 
that part of Kentucky had ever received so large a 
compensation. It was John Burnam, Esq., who pro- 
posed that I should be paid this amount, and all the 
church thought it impossible to raise it ; but when 
Brother Burnam subscribed one tenth of the sum it 
was then believed that the thing could be done. 
"Honor to whom honor is due ; " and I record the 
fact that to John Burnam is due the credit of intro- 
ducing this new order of things in the compensation 
of ministers m the Green River portion of Ken- 
tucky. He took large views for that day and advo- 
cated them with great earnestness. It is to be remem- 
bered, however, that I was the first man in South- 
ern Kentucky who abjured all secular avocations, 



Removal to Bowling Green, Kentucky. 49 

giving myself wholly to the ministry of the word. 
It was customary for the churches, almost all of 
them, to have preaching but one Sunday in the 
month. With this arrangement, a preacher could 
serve four churches ; and he was called, not ironi- 
cally, but really the pastor of them all. My pre- 
decessor had supplied the Bowling Green church 
with monthly preaching, and his compensation was 
a hundred dollars a year. If any one should be 
curious to know how ministers lived in those times, 
the answer is, that some of them taught school, 
while the large majority of them were farmers. 
Thus five days of the week were devoted to secular 
affairs, Saturday and Sunday being set apart for 
preaching. There could of course be no such thing 
as regular, systematic study ; and ministers labored 
under many disadvantages. Some of them had a 
great thirst for knowledge, but their books were 
few. Their reading was confined chiefly to the 
Bible, and they studied it during the intervals of 
manual labor. It would fill our eyes with tears if 
we could go back to those days, and see what was 
sometimes seen — a man of God, in Winter, having 
cut down a tree, sitting on its stump to rest, and 
while resting reading the word of truth with a view 
to the next Sunday's sermon ; and, in Summer, after 
following the plow until his horse needed rest, stop- 
ping to open the blessed book of the Lord. We 
shall never know how much we are indebted to men 
of this class for our denominational prominence and 
prosperity. Their sermons did not illustrate the 
4 



50 Reminiscences. 

rules of Homiletics, for the word was not known. 
They never thought of beauty and elegance of 
style, but they said wondrous things. They often, 
without knowing it, broke the rules of grammar, 
and at the same time they broke the hearts of their 
hearers. They were sometimes thrillingly eloquent, 
but their eloquence was not that of the schools. It 
was born of the inspiration of the Savior's love and 
melted the hardest hearts. I call to mind one who, 
attempting to show sinners that they need not perish 
in their sins, assigned several reasons why they need 
not, and then with a heavenly countenance and 
streaming eyes, exclaimed, "Calvary says no!" 
I do not expect to hear anything in the language of 
mortals more eloquent than that. When I think of 
the disadvantages under which those good men 
labored, and that their noble spirits, by an irre- 
pressible elasticity, rose above surrounding circum- 
stances, I feel for them the profoundest veneration. 
Through my long life I have remembered them, 
shall remember them till I die, and hope to be with 
them after I die. 

It was not long after I removed to Bowling 
Green, that is, in the Spring of 1837, that there 
was pecuniary trouble. There were .no telegraphs 
then, and I remember that a post-boy came with all 
possible haste from Louisville, bringing an order for 
the suspension of "specie payments" in bank. 
This was looked on as a calamity of no little magni- 
tude, for it disparaged the paper money in circula- 
tion and created a feeling of disquiet everywhere. 



Russell Creek Association. 51 

It was the first year of Mr. Tan Buren' s Presidency 
and he was thought responsible for the unsatisfactory 
state of things. This, however, was not the case. 
General Jackson had in the preceding year issued 
what was called the " Specie Circular, " requiring 
the public lands, then selling rapidly, to be paid for 
in gold and silver. Paper money had been chiefly 
used in the purchase of these lands and the " Specie 
Circular" was unexpected and revolutionary. It 
was seen in a very short time that the demands made 
on the banks for gold and silver would be so great 
as to make it necessary to suspend ''specie pay- 
ments." Whether the policy of President Jackson 
was wise or just it is not for me to say ; but it is 
certain that Mr. Tan Buren inherited the unpopu- 
larity of the measure, so that in 1S40 William 
Henry Harrison was elected over him by an over- 
whelming majority. Thus it was that General Jack- 
son, to whom Mr. Tan Buren was indebted for his 
election in 1S36, virtually defeated him in his can- 
didacy in 1840. So strange are human affairs. 

In August, 1S37, my friend, John L. Waller, who 
was on a visit to Bowling Green, proposed that I 
should go with him to Russell Creek Association, 
which was to meet at Columbia, in Adair County. 
We went and took Glasgow in our way. We spent 
a night in the family of Richard Garnett, Esq., and 
here I was introduced to his daughter Catherine S., 
of whom I shall have much to say in my Reminis- 
cences. I was not very favorably impressed by her 
at first, but she and her brother Joseph, and another 



52 Reminiscences. 

gentleman went with us to the Association. We 
thought there was no risk in presuming on Kentucky 
hospitality and unannounced we, five of us on 
horseback, stopped with a friend to spend a night. 
It made no difference and everything in the family 
circle went on without a ripple. At Columbia my 
home was with William Caldwell, Esq., with whose 
family from then till now I have had a pleasant ac- 
quaintance. When the Association was over I 
parted with my friend Waller and returned with 
Miss Garnett and her brother to Glasgow. The 
ride of more than thirty miles gave me a fine oppor- 
tunity of conversation with her and I was impressed 
with the excellences of her character and her gen- 
eral intelligence. When I left Glasgow I thought 
it probable that my admiration for her would result 
in feelings of a different kind ; but more of this 
hereafter. 

In October, 1837, I went to Louisville, where the 
General Association of Kentucky Baptists was 
formed. The Baptist State Convention had not 
been a success, and it was thought better to have a 
new organization. As introductory to the business 
of the meeting, a sermon was preached by that 
prince of preachers, Kev. William Yaughan, from 
Acts xx : 24 : "To testify the gospel of the grace 
of God." It was the first time I saw and heard 
Mr. Yaughan, and my many years of acquaintance 
with him greatly endeared him to me and convinced 
me that there was no minister in Kentucky superior 
to him. 



Proposal of Marriage. 53 

Spencer, in his History of Kentucky Baptists, 
says, k 'The meeting was called to order by Elder 
W. C. Buck, when, on motion, Elder George 
Waller was appointed Chairman, and brethren John 
L. Waller and J. M. Pendleton, Secretaries, pro 
tempore.' 1 It was a day of small things, for only 
fifty-seven messengers were present. A Constitu- 
tion was adopted which has remained substantially 
the same for more than fifty years. 

Having performed my little part in forming the 
General Association I returned home by way of 
Glasgow, where 1 was specially interested in form- 
ing a particular association. My feelings of admi- 
ration for Miss Garnett had ripened into feelings of 
love, and I so informed her. I rather think my 
proposal of marriage took her by surprise, for she 
said nothing. I tried of course to construe her 
silence into a favorable omen, and insisted that she 
should not give an immediate answer, but take 
ample time for consideration. A suitor generally 
gains an important point when he can so present his 
case as to induce consideration. It was so with me 
as will be seen in the next chapter. 



CHAPTEE TIL 

My Fathers Death and My Marriage — Richard 
Garnett — Robert Stockton — Jacob Loce^ — 
Birth of a Daughter. 

My father died in January, 1838. He had suf- 
fered for weary months with inflammatory rheuma- 
tism. I had seen him several times during his 
illness, and on one occasion had a special conversa- 
tion with him. I asked him what were his feelings 
in prospect of death ? I well remember his answer : 
He said, ' ' I am like Abraham, going into a country 
I know not, but willing to trust my Leader. ' ' He 
spoke of the plan of salvation through Christ as the 
only conceivable plan suited to the necessities of 
lost sinners. Referring to the Cross as his refuge, 
he repeated, amid tears and in broken accents, the 
stanza of Dr. Watts : 

" Should worlds conspire to drive me thence, 
Moveless and firm this heart should lie ; 
Resolved, for that's my last defence, 
If I must perish, there to die." 

He died trusting in Christ, and the family with- 
drew, leaving kind friends to prepare the body for 
burial. I remember the countenance of my mother. 
Oh, what sadness ! What bitter tears were hers ! 
I made a great effort to suppress my feelings that I 

(54) 



My Father's Death. 55 

might comfort her, and when duty required me to 
return to mj field of labor, then sixty miles distant, 
no language can describe my grief in leaving my 
mother in the desolateness of widowhood. I rode 
alone, leaving my horse oftentimes to proceed in a 
way perfectly familiar to me, but which tears did 
not then permit me distinctly to see. Years have 
fled since then, the duties of a life not inactive have 
engrossed my thoughts, and yet the feelings of that 
sad morning return in a measure to-day, and my 
eyes not much accustomed to tears, will weep again. 
* * * * I stood by the grave of my father and 
prayed that I might follow him as he followed Christ, 
and hear at last those words of commendation, 
"Well done, good and faithful servant." Years 
after, I saw by my father's resting place the grave of 
my eldest sister, in whose piety I had the fullest 
confidence. With more than telegraphic rapidity 
my thoughts ran back to the days of our childhood 
and youth, the time of our union with the church, 
the period of her last affliction, etc., etc. In look- 
ing at the grave of my father and that of my sister, 
one thing deeply touched my heart. I saw between 
the two a space reserved for another grave. How 
suggestive ! It was not necessary to inquire why 
that space was left. I knew my mother wished it 
so ; and after thirty-five years of widowhood she 
was laid to rest between the husband of her love 
and her first-born. 

My father was a man of vigorous intellect, the 
distinctive peculiarity . of which was its logical 



56 Reminiscences. 

strength. He had read much and possessed large 
information. He was distinguished for an ample 
share of common sense, a very sound judgment, 
and often expressed himself in sentences so remark- 
able for their wisdom as to remind me of the 
Proverbs of Solomon. I give but one of his utter- 
ances : "If a man has done you an injury he will 
be your enemy. " In pondering these words I think 
I have seen the philosophy of the matter. He who 
has done you an injury will ordinarily have feelings 
of shame and mortification, and it is some relief to 
him for these feelings to be supplanted by those of 
positive hostility. 

Miss Garnett having considered my proposal of 
marriage, was kind enough by the end of the year to 
give me a favorable answer, and it was arranged 
that we should be married during the month of 
March. It is proper for me to say something of 
her parents. Her father was one of the most re- 
spected citizens of Glasgow, and for many years 
filled the office of Clerk of the Barren County Cir- 
cuit Court. When he became a Christian his predi- 
lections were in favor of the Presbyterian Church. 
His mind, however, was not settled on the subject 
of baptism, and it was arranged for Dr. Lapsley, of 
Bowling Green, to visit Glasgow and preach a ser- 
mon on Baptism. The effect of the sermon was not 
according to expectation. Dr. Lapsley was a 
learned man and the ablest Presbyterian preacher in 
the Green River country. He was unfortunate, or 
rather fortunate, in saying in the early part of his 



Bichard Garnett. 57 

sermon that lie believed Jesus was immersed in the 
Jordan ; but he went on to say that sprinkling would 
do as well, that it was more convenient, etc. Mr. 
Garnett took hold of the fact that Christ was im- 
mersed and said to himself, "I ought to copy His 
example. Why should I do what he did not do? " 
The question was settled at once and forever. He 
joined the Baptist Church in Glasgow, of which he 
remained a member till his death, which occurred 
when he was ninety-seven years of age. He was 
baptized by Eev. William Warder, and was the 
most influential member of the church as long as he 
lived. Dr. Lapsley, in conceding that Jesus was 
immersed, laid the Baptists under many obliga- 
tions. 

Mr. Garnett some years before had married Miss 
Theodosia Stockton, daughter of Elder Robert 
Stockton, a Baptist minister, who had been im- 
prisoned in Virginia for preaching the gospel with- 
out "Episcopal orders." His imprisonment for 
such a reason was a greater honor than to wear a 
monarch's crown and sway a monarch's sceptre. 
Peace to the memory of Robert Stockton. His 
daughter was a lovely woman with a heart full of 
unselfish love. She died at sixty years of age and 
was the mother of twelve children, only two of 
whom are now living. William Garnett, Esq., 
deacon of the First Baptist Church, Chicago, is one 
of the two, and she whom I proudly call my wife is 
the other. The ten children whose names were 
John, Robert, Reuben, Joseph, Benjamin, James, 



58 Reminiscences. 

Kichard, Fanny, Elizabeth, and Maria, have all 
passed away. Children as well as parents must die. 

It was on the 13th of March, 1838, that Miss 
Catherine S. Garnett and I were united in marriage. 
The ceremony was performed by Elder Jacob Locke, 
who was a kind of patriarch among the Baptists in 
his wide sphere of labor. I was very slightly ac- 
quainted with him, but he must have been a 
remarkable man. It is said that his wife taught him 
to read, but he rose to eminence in the ministry. 
In proof of this I need only say that Judge Chris- 
topher Tompkins and Joseph R. Underwood, after 
being in Congress for years, in its palmy days, said 
that Jacob Locke was the most eloquent man they 
ever heard. It was untutored eloquence, the out- 
burst of love to God and to the souls of men. 
"The fathers, where are they?" 

The married pair, after a day or two, left Glasgow 
for their home in Bowling Green and spent a night 
on the way with special friends, Edmund Hall and 
family, whose cordial hospitality was all it could be. 
We often shared their kindness in after years. 
When we reached Bowling Green we were heartily 
welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Curd, who had 
prepared for us an elegant dinner. We never had 
better friends than they, and we boarded with them 
for more than two years, until we were ready to go 
to ''housekeeping." We have never forgotten 
their many acts of kindness to us. 

We of course visited my mother in Christian 
County, who received her daughter-in-law with 



Bridal Tour. 59 

much affection and continued to love her as long as 
she lived. My brothers and sisters were much 
pleased with the addition I had made to the family, 
and they thought me very fortunate in my choice. 

We visited Hopkinsville and I was delighted to 
see my friends there so favorably impressed with 
my bride. They thought I had reason to be a 
happy man. 

We returned to Glasgow and then took our prin- 
cipal "bridal tour," on horseback, to Louisville. 
This was our only way of traveling, till in a short 
time I bought a buggy. It will amuse young peo- 
ple now to hear that a bridal trip of several hundred 
miles was taken on horseback ; but we were very 
happy and had much pleasant conversation. At 
Louisville we stopped with our friends, the Willson 
family, and were made to feel perfectly at home. 
We spent an evening with Rev. W. C. Buck, then 
pastor of the First Church, and heard him preach 
an evangelical sermon. He was a strong man in 
the pulpit, and some thought stronger on the plat- 
form. It was very inspiring to hear him in debate 
with "a foeman worthy of his steel." His sermons 
were generally able presentations of divine truth, 
but at times his ideas were rather nebulous, and on 
one occasion they suffered so total an eclipse that 
he could say nothing, and he sat down, This I 
learned from Dr. Yaughan, who was present. The 
Baptists of Kentucky are greatly indebted to Mr. 
Buck for his arduous labors. He was for several 
years Editor of the Baptist Banner. He improved 



60 Reminiscences. 

as a writer, though there was in some of his edito- 
rials a tendency to prolixity. When he left Ken- 
tucky he became Secretary, at Nashville, of the 
Bible Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. 
After two or three years he sojourned for a time in 
Alabama, editing a small paper which he called The 
Baptist Correspondent. He Went from Alabama to 
Texas, where, after reaching his four-score years, he 
died of cancer and found a grave, where he had 
found a home, at Waco. 

During the visit to Louisville, just referred to, I 
was invited to preach. My text was II Cor. vi : 2 : 
' ' Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is 
the day of salvation. ' ' I thought it a poor, inani- 
mate sermon, but learned, years afterward, that a 
man in the congregation was convicted under it, 
who subsequently became a church member and a 
deacon. I mention this to emphasize the fact that 
we sometimes do good when we are not aware of it. 
Probably the revelations of eternity will develop 
many instances of this kind. 

Returning to Bowling Green I gave myself to my 
work as pastor, preaching twice on Sunday and at- 
tending prayer-meeting during the week, visiting 
the people and especially the sick. My wife aided 
me in every suitable way and became a favorite 
with those who made her acquaintance. Nothing 
remarkable occurred during the year 1838, though 
the General Association met with us in October. It 
was not very well attended. 



Birth of a Daughter. 61 

January 8th is celebrated in commemoration of the 
battle of New Orleans in 1815. The victory 
achieved there was decisive of General Jackson's 
destiny. It made him President and was far- 
reaching in its influence. On this date in 1839 an 
event occurred which makes it impossible for us to 
forget the 8th of January. Our first child was 
born. We named her Letitia after a dear friend. 
She was a weakly child and we feared she would 
not live. The Lord preserved her life and in the 
days of her youth she became a Christian and re- 
ceived baptism at my hands. She did not go to 
school till she was fifteen years of age, but was 
taught by her father and mother at home. Here I 
may say, parenthetically, that her mother was very 
competent to teach, for she had been educated by 
Elder P. S. Fall at his "Female Eclectic Institute," 
near Frankfort, Ky. , and graduated with the highest 
honor. When Letitia was fifteen years old she en- 
tered the Mary Sharp College, at Winchester, 
Tenn., under the Presidency of Z. C. Graves, 
LL.D., and graduated at the expiration of four 
years. There was at that time, if there is now, no 
Woman's College with a curriculum so extensive 
and so thorough. 

Letitia returned to our home, which was then in 
Murfreesboro, Tenn., and remained with us till 
February, 1860, when she was married to Rev. 
James Waters. Their married life now embraces a 
period of more than thirty years and they have lived 
in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New 



62 



Reminiscences. 



York and Delaware. They are now (1891) in Den- 
ver, Colorado. Mr. Waters is an able, impressive 
preacher of the word, and I hope he will accomplish 
much good in his present field of labor. 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

Death of President Giddings — Revival — J. L. 
Burrows — Birth of a Son — Second Daugh- 
ter — T. G. Keen Becomes Pastor at Hop- 
kinsville — Visit to Philadelphia — Canal 
Travel — Triennial Convention. 

The General Association met in Shelbyville in 
October, 1839. There was a feeling of sadness in 
the hearts of the brethren, for Rev. Rockwood Gid- 
dings was on his dying bed. He was a short 
distance from the town at the home of his father-in- 
law, Mr. Hansborough. I visited him and saw him 
for the last time, and saw the power of Christianity 
in supporting while u flesh and heart failed." Mr. 
Giddings was a young man full of promise. He 
was for a short time President of Georgetown Col- 
lege and infused new life and hope into the Institu- 
tion. The friends of the College looked for a long 
and prosperous administration of its affairs. But 
he died October 29, 1839. From then till now his 
death has been to me one of the unsolved mysteries 
of Providence. A thousand times I have wondered 
why I was not taken and he left to fulfil what 
seemed so bright a destiny. But God is often 
pleased to remind us of what he said by His prophet 
long ago : ' ' For My thoughts are not your thoughts, 

(63) 



64 Reminiscences. 

neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord." 
(Isa. Iv : 8.) We must adjourn dark problems to 
the last day, and then they will receive a solution 
so bright as to call forth rapturous hallelujahs in 
heaven. 

About the first of March, 1840, we began a pro- 
tracted meeting in our church at Bowling Green, 
which continued for a month. Kev. J. L. Burrows 
was the preacher. He was at that time pastor in 
Owensboro, and was in the full enjoyment of his 
young manhood. He exhibited pulpit talents of the 
first order, as he has continued to do. His sermons 
were profound in argument and persuasive in exhor- 
tation. He showed his sanctified common sense in 
preaching first to the church to reclaim it from its 
backslidden state and to inspire it with zeal for the 
glory of God in the salvation of sinners. Not till 
the church was revived did he preach to the impeni- 
tent. Then he earnestly urged on them the claims 
of the gospel, and the Holy Spirit made his ser- 
mons effective. Sinners were convicted and began 
to ask, " What must we do to be saved ? " Convic- 
tion was followed by conversion, and the songs of 
rejoicing converts were heard. The meeting went 
on day and night until the church had sixty mem- 
bers added to its number. We had no "baptistery" 
then and the ordinance of baptism was administered 
in Big Barren River not very far above where the 
Louisville and Nashville Railroad now crosses the 
river. I remember one Sunday morning that Bro. 
Burrows and I were in the water together, alter- 



J". L. Burrows. 65 

nately baptizing, as the candidates were presented. 
As we ; ' went down into the water ' ' and ' ' came up 
out of the water" it seemed to me then, and it 
seems to me yet, that we did just what Philip and 
the eunuch did. (See Acts viii : 38, 39.) There 
was a large crowd to witness the administration of 
baptism, and there was suitable solemnity, as ther) 
should be on such occasions. Bro. Burrows, I 
think, baptized more gracefully than I, for I have 
never had the talent to do things gracefully. 

There were more than twenty sermons preached 
during the meeting, and not one of them was 
mediocre. Bro. B. was a fine specimen of a gospel 
preacher, and when the time of his departure came 
it was with sad hearts that brethren and sisters bade 
him adieu. It was not long after that he visited his 
friends in the East, and while there was called to 
the pastorate of the old Sansom Street Church, 
Philadelphia. After some years of ministerial labor 
in the city of "Brotherly Love " he was called to 
Kichmond, Ya., where he served the First Church 
for twenty years. After this he became pastor of 
Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky. He is 
now pastor in Norfolk, Va.* He is feeling the in- 
firmities of age and the First Church, Kichmond, 
has most gracefully offered him a home, promising 
to care for him the rest of his days. God bless him 
as the beneficiary of such a church ! 

In the early part of the year 1840 my wife and I 
went to Glasgow to be present at the marriage of 

*He has resigned since this was written. 
5 



66 Beminiscences. 

her brother William to Miss Eugenia Tompkins, 
daughter of Judge Tompkins. The occasion was a 
pleasant one, and the two who became husband and 
wife were congenial spirits, and have enjoyed a 
happy life. Chicago has been their home for many 
years. I returned home soon after the wedding, 
but my wife, on account of her mother's feeble 
health, and for other reasons, remained. Her 
mother had been the marked victim of consumption 
for some years, but the disease had not been rapid 
in its progress ; but now it became evident that 
death was not far distant. Mrs. Garnett died in the 
month of April and found her final resting-place in 
the family "burying ground." Her memory is 
most fondly cherished by those who knew her best. 
My wife being with her sick mother, was not in 
the revival at Bowling Green, and before her re- 
turn, that is, on the 5th of May, 1840, our second 
child was born. We named him John Malcom, 
after my father and our friend Rev. Howard Mal- 
com. He was a bright, promising boy and, at a 
suitable age, became a student of Bethel College, 
Russellville, Ky. There he remained till my re- 
moval to Murfreesboro, Tenn., in 1857. He entered 
Union University at that place and graduated in 
1860. It is was in the latter part of the year 1859 
that he gave satisfactory evidence of conversion, 
and was baptized in what has since become the 
historic " Stone's River. " I had baptized him be- 
fore, when he was very young, but he and I were 
soon convinced that he labored under a mistake in 



My Son Enlists in the Confederate Cause. 67 

supposing himself a Christian. I therefore did not 
hesitate to baptize him a second time, considering 
his first baptism, so-called, a nullity. 

In the fall of the year 1860, my son went to West 
Tennessee and opened a school at or near Browns- 
ville, employing the intervals between school hours 
in studying Law. He was thus engaged till rumors 
of war in 1861 unsettled every thing. Young men 
were urged to enlist as soldiers in the Confederate 
cause, and my son yielded to the advice of his legal 
preceptor and exchanged civil for military life. He 
became a Confederate soldier. We were on opposite 
sides of the question that convulsed the nation. 
Why I was on the side of the United States will be 
shown in another chapter. The different views held 
by my son and me made no difference in our rela- 
tions of love. We kept up a correspondence as 
long as we could, and there was not an unkind word 
in any of our letters. I refer to this because the 
supreme slander perpetrated against me in my long 
life had connection with my son. It was even pub- 
lished in a newspaper that I had pronounced a curse 
on him, expressing the hope that he might be killed 
in the first battle. Satan himself never instigated 
a more flagrant falsehood, though in so doing he 
availed himself of a professed Christian and a 
preacher, whose name I in mercy withhold. 

My son acted as commissary for some time and 
was never engaged in a battle, though he was a 
private in the ranks when General Bragg made his 
expedition into Kentucky in 1862. While Bragg 



68 Beminiscences. 

was at Glasgow my son obtained leave to visit his 
mother, who was with her sister a few miles in the 
country. He spent a night with her and with two 
of his sisters and his younger brother. Nearly the 
whole night was spent in conversation, and when 
in the early morning he had to return to his regi- 
ment there was a very sad, but a most affectionate 
farewell. It was the last time his mother saw him 
and I had not seen him since he left Murfreesboro 
in 1860. The two armies (Bragg's and Buell's) 
made their way to Perryville, Ky., and while they 
were seeking favorable positions and my son was 
reclining on the grass, the fragment of a shell struck 
his classic forehead, and in a moment the bright 
hopes of his parents were extinguished forever. 
Language has no epithets to describe the calamitous 
event. It is a mournful satisfaction, however, that 
my son the day he was killed sent a message to his 
mother by one of his comrades. The message was 
this : "Tell my mother, if I die, that I have died 
trusting in the same Savior in whom I have trusted." 
We therefore believe that his active spirit, escaping 
from the mutilated tabernacle of the body, ascended 
to the heavenly mansions where all is peace. This 
blessed assurance has been a balm to wounded 
hearts till now, and will be till these hearts cease 
to throb with the pulsations of life. My son died 
October 8, 1862. 

It was in 1842 that I did what has always afforded 
me great satisfaction. My special friend, Rev. T. 
G. Keen was teaching a Female School in Russell- 



Second Daughter. 69 

ville, and while so engaged was called to the pas- 
toral charge of the Baptist church in Hopkinsville. 
He wrote to me informing me of the fact and add- 
ing : "I leave the matter entirely in your hands. 
You know the church and you know me. I shall 
be guided by your decision." I wrote by return 
mail, "Accept the call by all means," and thus I 
brought into active ministerial work one of the best 
sermonizers that has ever filled a Kentucky pulpit. 
After a comparatively long life of usefulness, Mr. 
Keen died at Evansville, Indiana, in the home of 
one of his daughters in September, 1887. He was. 
buried in Hopkinsville by the side of the wife of his 
love. I with many others was at his funeral and 
thousands remember him with fond affection. 

On the 11th or March, 181:4, our daughter Fannie 
was born. She was about perfect in bodily form 
and brought sunshine into the family circle. She 
grew up and was greatly beloved by her parents and 
and sister and brother. Her education began at 
home, and she did not go to school till we removed 
to Tennessee in 1857. She was for a time in Mur- 
freesboro schools and was then sent to the Mary 
Sharp College, at Winchester, where she remained 
till the war disturbed everything in 1862. A diploma 
was subsequently given her. When we went to 
Ohio (an account of which will be given in another 
place) she went with us, but afterward returned to 
Kentucky and was employed by Mr. Charles Barker 
to teach his children. When through with her en- 
gagement she rejoined the family then at Upland^ 



70 Reminiscences. 

Ya. June 27, 1867, she was married to Prof. Leslie 
Waggener, then connected with Bethel College, 
Russellville, Ky. She found in him a congenial 
spirit and theirs has been a happy married- life. 
They have seven children, as bright as any that 
could be found in a long summer day. 

After a number of years devoted to the interests 
of Bethel College, of which Mr. Waggener was 
President, he was called to a professorship in the 
University of Texas, at Austin. He was recom- 
mended as suited to the position by scholars of dis- 
tinction, one of whom was Dr. John A. Broadus. 
He has been for several years Chairman of the 
Faculty, and is recognized as having a special talent 
for the management of students. The University 
is prosperous and will, no doubt, be well endowed, 
as it owns two million acres of Texas lands. Mr. 
and Mrs. "Waggener and their three eldest children 
are members of the Baptist church in Austin. 

On April 11, 1841, I started to Philadelphia 
to attend the old Triennial Convention for Foreign 
Missions. It was the last meeting of the body, as 
it was afterward superseded by the Baptist Mission- 
ary Union. This was my first visit to the east, and 
my leaving home to go such a distance was thought 
to be an important event. My wife therefore sug- 
gested, and she has made many good suggestions, 
that the deacons of the church be invited to our 
house (for we had been house-keeping since the 
Summer of 1840) to hold a little prayer-meeting. 
They accepted the invitation and were present, six 



Visit to Philadelphia. 71 

in number, John Maxey, John Burnam, J. C. Wil- 
kins, F. Yaughan, W. D. Helm and John L. 
Shower. They all prayed. So fraternal were their 
allusions to me, so eloquently did their voices falter 
when they mentioned my departure, so earnestly 
did they ask God that I might return in safety, the 
whole scene made an indelible impression on my 
mind. This was the night before I left, and the 
afternoon of the next day I called my family to- 
gether, read the forty-sixth Psalm, called on God 
in prayer, commending ourselves to His care during 
our contemplated separation. Then taking leave of 
my wife, kissing our sweet children, and giving a 
word of religious advice to the servants, I took 
passage in the stage for Louisville and reached there 
in twenty-eight hours. The next day, which was Sat- 
urday, after calling on some friends, I took passage 
at 11 o'clock a. m. on the steamer "Pike'- for 
Warsaw, where I was to preach on the morrow. I 
was met at the wharf at 8 p. m. by Mr. Hawkins 
and his sister Mildred, who conducted me to their 
mother's residence to enjoy her hospitalities. She 
was the mother of Col. P. B. Hawkins, then and 
now of Bowling Green. I preached at 11 o'clock 
and at 4, then at 8 stepped on the steamer ' ' Ben 
Franklin," went to my state-room, committed my- 
self, my family and friends to God in prayer, and 
slept sweetly till morning. When I awoke I found 
myself in Cincinnati and took passage on the boat 
''Clipper" for Pittsburg. I had as companions in 
travel Drs. Sherwood, Lynd, Cressy, Brisbane, and 



72 Reminiscences. 

Robert. We of course talked and read on our way, 
but nothing impressed me so deeply as the fact that 
our steamer, instead of doing justice to its name, 
ran aground and remained stationary for some 
hours. We had need of patience, but bore the dis- 
appointment as well as we could. 

When we reached Pittsburg we found that Dr. 
Lynd's brother, living there, had secured seats in 
the stage for the Dr. and two others, but Dr. Sher- 
wood, Robert, and myself were left to go by a canal 
boat. We had to stay in what was then the 
" smoky city " from 9 o'clock a. m. to 9 p. m before 
the boat would start. Determined to utilize the day, 
we visited "glass works," "coal mines, 1 ' and 
"iron works." It is wonderful into what forms 
liquid glass can be blown. Bowls, tumblers and 
bottles are made sooner than some persons get 
money out of their pockets to throw into a contri- 
bution box. We went into a coal mine five hundred 
yards, stooping all the way. There is a railroad on 
a small scale, and the coal is hauled out in little 
cars drawn by mules. Dr. Sherwood gave the 
miners some good advice and expressed the hope 
that we all might meet above where there is no 
darkness, but unclouded light. 

But to our boat. It was drawn by three horses 
and we went four miles an hour. It required some 
philosophy to bear this cheerfully. We went, I 
think, through thirty locks and one tunnel before 
we reached the foot of the Alleghany mountains. 
The railroad car was in readiness, we took our seats, 



Canal Travel 73 

and up and up we went. By means of five inclined 
planes we ascended to the summit, and the same 
number of planes took us down to the level again. 
The scenery on the mountain, some of it at least, is 
majestic. Tall cliffs raise their heads magnificently 
and straight pines point to the heavens. I enjoyed 
the descent from the mountain exceedingly. A 
strange exhilaration of spirit seized me and I 
thought of Longinus' definition of the sublime. 

Descending from the mountain, at Hollidaysburg 
we took the canal again and we were well prepared 
to draw a contrast between its slow progress and the 
rapid descent of a car on an inclined plane. Sun- 
day came and brethren Sherwood and Robert 
stopped on the way, but advised me to remain on the 
boat and preach. I did so and was heard with re- 
spect by most of the passengers, though some read 
papers. Monday morning I awoke at Harrisburg, 
the capital of Pennsylvania, and had a welcome 
view of the railroad to Philadelphia. It was an 
exquisite pleasure to turn away from the canal with 
the firm belief that I would never travel on it again. 
Still canal traveling furnishes some good opportu- 
nities of learning something about human nature. 
It is soon seen that there are among men, and 
especially among women, different dispositions and 
different wishes. It is next to impossible to please 
all passengers. Elder Alfred Bennett told me this 
anecdote : There were two women on a boat, one of 
whom wished fresh air and the other did not. The 
name of the chambermaid was Tabitha. In the 



14 Reminiscences. 

night the cry was heard, ' ' Tabitha, raise the win- 
dow ; I shall be suffocated." Tabitha obeyed, 
but in a little while the other woman cried, "Tabi- 
tha, let down that window or the fresh air will kill 
me." Thus the thing went on with alternate de- 
mands that the widow be opened and shut, till an 
ungallant man, not willing longer to have his sleep 
disturbed, cried out, "Tabitha, close that window 
till one of those women dies, and then open it till 
the other dies, and let us have some peace." 

We passed through so many locks between Pitts- 
burg and Harrisburg that I will not mention the 
number, lest somebody may doubt my veracity. 

Leaving Harrisburg on the railroad it was not many 
hours before we reached Philadelphia. The city 
was beautiful to behold, but it is much more beau- 
tiful now and very much larger. 

I met my friend Burrows at the Publication 
Kooms, 530 Arch Street, and he took me to his 
home to share his hospitalities. His other guests 
were men of mark, J. B. Jeter, Daniel Witt, and 
Cumberland George, all from Virginia. The anni- 
versaries were held in Dr. Ide's church, then, I 
think, about two squares from the Delaware River. 
The American and Foreign Bible Society held its 
meeting first, and Dr. Spencer H. Cone presided. 
He was a very competent presiding officer, familiar 
with parliamentary rules. I have seen no man in 
the North his superior in this respect, but do not 
think he was equal to Dr. Boyce or Dr. Mell. Dr. 
B. T. Welch, of Albany, New York, preached the 



Triennial Convention. 75 

Annual Sermon before the Bible Society. I was 
specially impressed with one thing in his sermon, 
namely, that his illustrations were drawn from the 
Bible. I wish some other preachers were like him. 

The Triennial Convention for Foreign Missions 
met April 2i. Dr. W. B. Johnson, of South Caro- 
lina, was in the chair. He called the meeting to 
order and it was found that four hundred and fifty 
messengers were present — more than ever before. 
Nothing of special importance was done after the 
organization. The next day Dr. Francis Wayland 
was chosen President, and Dr. J. B. Taylor, of 
Virginia, and R. H. Neale, of Massachusetts, 
Secretaries. 

Rev. Eugenio Kincaid, returned Missionary from 
Burmah, and Dr. Richard Fuller, of South Caro- 
lina, made interesting addresses. Kincaid made no 
effort to be eloquent, but gave a simple account of 
what he had seen in his missionary life. A plain 
statement of facts, as he gave them, brought tears 
to many eyes. 

Dr. Fuller was one of the best looking men in 
the Convention and made a capital speech. He was 
tall and commanding in his person, graceful in his 
manner, and impressive in his elocution. Nature 
did much for him and education supplemented the 
work of nature, while piety placed its sanctifying 
impress on both. 

The Home Mission Society met on the 26th, and 
it was the occasion of great excitement. Hon. 
Heman Lincoln, of Boston, was President, and he 



76 Reminiscences. 

found much difficulty in maintaining order. The 
question of slavery was introduced and the Aboli- 
tionists urged that the Society should not appoint 
any slaveholder as a missionary. Dr. Colver was 
the leading speaker on this side of the question. 
He was a man of talent, but exceedingly discourteous 
and rough in his remarks. He utterly failed to ex- 
emplify the amenities of Christian debate. He 
used a number of ad captandum arguments, but did 
not meet the question with fairness and magna- 
nimity. Dr. Welch said that he considered it 
inexpedient for slaveholders to be employed as mis- 
sionaries. Dr. Jeter and Dr. Fuller were the 
principal speakers on the opposite side. Dr. Jeter 
stood up straight as an arrow and said, "Mr. Presi- 
dent." Attempts were made to interrupt him, but 
he stood immovable. Mr. Lincoln interposed, cry- 
ing with his peculiar voice, ' ' Order, brethren, Dr. 
Jeter, of Yirginia, has the floor." Some one re- 
plied, "He always has it." He made an able 
speech. Dr. Fuller spoke with great power and his 
gentlemanly bearing made its impression on every 
body. He was logical and eloquent. 

The slavery discussion continued at times till the 
29th. On this day the excitement and interest were 
so great that there was no adjournment at noon and 
Deacon Wattson had a barrel of "crackers " rolled 
in, that brethren might partially satisfy their appe- 
tites. The aisles of the church were pretty well 
filled by Friends (Quakers), who, being anti-slavery, 
were much interested in the discussion. I well re- 



Triennial Convention. 77 

member the expression of their countenances. 
When the final decision came it was resolved that 
ministers in slave-holding States were eligible to 
appointment as missionaries. The vote stood a 
hundred and thirty-one to sixty-one. Thus was the 
matter disposed of for the time. 

On Sunday most of the Protestant pulpits of the 
city were filled by Baptist ministers in attendance on 
the Anniversaries. To my surprise I was appointed 
to preach, at night, at the North Baptist Church. 
Dr. J. B. Taylor, of Yirginia, having his lodgings 
near this church, and having been appointed to 
preach in the Presbyterian church on Tenth Street, 
kindly proposed an exchange with me. I therefore 
preached to a Presbyterian congregation, not a per- 
son in which did I know. I gave them sound doc- 
trine, for I preached on the value of Christ's sacri- 
fice. The Elders were pleased to express their 
approval, and their courtesy led them to express a 
desire to hear me again. There was in the congre- 
gation a remarkable man, whose face was expressive 
of intelligence and studious habits. He was a 
voluminous writer, and some of his views in his 
"Notes on Romans" were not satisfactory to many 
of his brethren, and he was charged with heresy, 
but the Philadelphia Synod acquitted him. That 
man was Rev. Albert Barnes, who died suddenly 
more than twenty years afterward. Calling to see 
a family, he was invited to take a seat, and as he sat 
clown his spirit left the pale clay and soared upward 
to its God. 



CHAPTEK IX. 

Objects of Interest in Philadelphia — Indepen- 
dence Hall, Girard College, Fair Mount, 
Laurel Hill Cemetery, Etc. — Mr. Clay 
Nominated for the Presidency — Distressing: 
Stage Ride from Chambersburg to Pittsburg — 
Down the Ohio to Louisville and Thence 
Home by Steamer Gen. Warren. 

Every one who visits Philadelphia must of course 
see Independence Hall, so called because there the 
Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776. 
This is thought by many to be the grandest unin- 
spired document ever published. It required Mr. 
Jefferson's best ability to write it, and it required 
the sublimest moral courage to adopt it. The men 
who voted for it placed themselves in advance of the 
civilized world and showed their superior knowledge 
of the philosophy of liberty. They levied a large 
contribution on the gratitude and admiration of suc- 
ceeding generations. The building in which they 
deliberated and acted has in itself no special attrac- 
tions. What was done in it gives the structure a 
sort of earthly immortality. 

The Anniversaries being over, my friend Burrows 
kindly procured a horse and buggy and we rode to 
Girard College. This was at the time said to be the 

(78) 



Objects of Interest in Philadelphia. 79 

finest building in the United States. It is of mar- 
ble, four stories high. The roof projects several 
feet and rests on magnificent columns, which cost 
|14,000 a piece, and there are thirty-four of these 
columns. The roof is covered with marble slabs four 
feet wide. The distance from the eaves to the comb 
of the roof is fifty-six feet. It is said that Girard in 
his will expressed a desire to have a plain and substan- 
tial building erected, gave a plan, and added, " let it 
be according to this plan or any other that good 
taste may suggest. * ' The Philadelphians have availed 
themselves of the latitude given in the phrase 
**good taste," and have already expended one mil- 
lion eight hundred thousand dollars, and the build- 
ing is not yet completed. They, however, justify 
themselves in this extravagant outlay in the follow- 
ing manner : They say that Girard knew that he 
would soon be forgotten unless he did something 
extraordinary, and that he wished a splendid edifice 
reared out of the most durable material, that his 
name might be handed down to posterity. 

Fair Mount, with its large reservoir, was well 
worth seeing. The water is thrown up from the 
Schuylkill and thus the city is supplied with an in- 
dispensable article. Some other cities, no doubt, 
now have more attractive ' ' water works ' ' than 
Philadelphia, but at the time to which I refer Fair 
Mount reservoir was considered a great affair. It 
may perhaps admit of debate whether the Schuylkill 
in supplying the city with water is not of greater 
utility than the Delaware on which the shipping 



80 Reminiscences. 

rides so majestically. I do not enter into the dis- 
cussion, but simply express the opinion that the 
Delaware might furnish better water, as it now does 
to Chester. 

Laurel Hill Cemetery was the most beautiful re- 
pository of the dead I had then seen. It was a 
most enchanting place. The trees waved their 
branches, the grass carpeted the ground, the shrub- 
bery was tastefully arranged, and everything was in 
perfect order. Along how many gravel walks we 
made our way I know not, for who in admiring the 
monuments could think of numbers ? The speci- 
mens of sculpture are very fine, some of one form 
and some of another, exhibiting beautiful diversity. 
One monument I noticed with much interest. A 
fond husband and father had it erected in memory 
of his wife and seven children. There was on it a 
very impressive representation of an open rose and 
seven buds. Ah, how does that bereaved man feel 
when thinking of the rose and the buds ! 

I saw a column most elegantly finished and most 
naturally broken about six feet from the ground — 
an affecting symbol of the broken hopes of the 
parents who had there deposited the remains of a 
dear child. One tomb I saw and long did I gaze 
on it. The marble out of which it was constructed 
was beautiful, and on the slab was the exact image 
of a little boy — pale, emaciated, his eyes closed in 
death, his hair lying in graceful ringlets on his neck, 
and his head resting on a pillow. Nothing in the 
cemetery affected me so much as this. I began to 



Mr. Clay Nominated for the Presidency. 81 

think how I should feel on seeing my own dear boy 
motionless in death. There is an inexpressible ten- 
derness in a father's feelings when a thousand miles 
from his children. 

1 visited the monument erected to the memory of 
Charles Thompson, a prominent man in our Revo- 
lutionary struggle, Secretary to Congress, and Trans- 
lator of the Old Testament from the Greek Septua- 
gint into English. He was a native of Ireland. 
After his arrival in America he received many 
marks of kindness from Dr. Franklin. 

But I must not enlarge on these objects of interest 
farther than to say that we visited the House of 
Refuge, and the Philadelphia Library, which con- 
tained a hundred and forty thousand volumes 
Doubtless it has been greatly enlarged since then, 
for "of making many books there is no end." 

It was my full purpose to go to Washington, that 
I might for the first time see the capital city of the 
nation ; but I was told that there would be great 
difficulty in getting a seat in the stage from there to 
Wheeling in less than two weeks. This was owing 
to the large number who, it was supposed, would be 
returning from the great Whig Convention in Bal- 
timore. So I abandoned my purpose to visit Wash- 
ington. 

By the way, that Convention met May 1, 1844, 
and it was well known beforehand that Henry Clay, 
of Kentucky, would be nominated for the Presi- 
dency. No other man was thought of. The nomi- 
nation was unanimous and enthusiastic. I found 
6 



82 Reminiscences. 

that Mr. Clay was almost idolized in Philadelphia. 
His praises were heard in all parts of the city. I 
remember that in going into a bank to cash a check, 
the teller, learning that I was from Kentucky, said, 
"You are from his own State." He seemed to 
think that everybody would know who was meant 
Orators declaimed on Mr. Clay's greatness and his 
transcendent fitness for the Presidency and poets 
made songs. All of these songs were not perfect 
in poetic merit, and some of them were not much 
above doggerel. This made no difference. They 
were sung with the greatest zest and with enthusiastic 
vociferation. I cannot now call up a single one of 
those songs, but I well remember the refrain of one. 
It was this : 

' ' Get out of the way — you are all unlucky : 
Clear the track for old Kentucky.'' 

These lines, in ordinary times, would hardly create 
even moderate excitement, but in 18tt4 they stirred 
the staid city of Philadelphia. Circumstances are 
often material things. 

Having decided to return home without visiting 
Washington, I took leave of Bro. Burrows and his 
family. There was a railroad as far as Chambers- 
burg, but from there the public way of travel was 
by stage and I had the most distressing ride of my 
life. There were nine inside passengers who had 
an accidental advantage over me ; that is, their 
names were first on the list. I had of course to 
ride on the outside. Some of the inside passengers, 



Stage Bide from Chambersburg to Pittsburg. 83 

four of whom were preachers who had attended the 
Anniversaries, told me that they would exchange 
places with me from time to time, and that every- 
thing would be pleasant. One of them took my 
place soon after we left Chambersburg late in the 
afternoon, for he said he would like to have a good 
view of the scenery. The sun was shining then 
and everything looked beautiful ; but soon it began 
to rain and my friend called for his inside seat. I 
surrendered it and taking my seat by the driver, and 
owing, no doubt, to the almost continuous rain, I 
heard no more about an exchange of seats. We 
were forty-eight hours from Chambersburg to Pitts- 
burg, and for a considerable part of the way I was 
wet to the skin. I became so tired and weary and 
sleepy that I was obliged to nod, and in the nodding 
process my hat fell off, but the driver was kind 
enough to stop and let me pick it up. I was roused 
up and kept my eyes open for a time, and I cannot 
forget that in the midst of a heavy rain the stage 
broke down. The driver said he would have to go 
a short distance to get the damage repaired, and 
asked if some passenger would stand before the 
horses till he returned. There w T as a man from 
Boston on the top of the stage who was protecting 
himself as well as he could. He generously offered 
his services on condition that some one would lend 
him an umbrella. There was only one umbrella 
not in use and that belonged to one of the preachers. 
I suppose he had bought it in Philadelphia ; but 
however that was, he refused to lend it, and gave 



84 Reminiscences. 

as his reason that "it had never been wet." This 
made the Boston passenger indignant and he said 
the horses might do what they pleased. I do not 
remember all his words, but some of them probably 
were not strictly evangelical. From that day to this 
I have regarded the refusal to lend the umbrella as the 
most striking proof of selfishness I ever saw. Dur- 
ing our delay I went to some iron works not far away 
and tried to dry my wet clothes by a glowing fire. 
The damage being repaired we proceeded on our way, 
and after a little more than forty-eight hours, two 
days and two nights, we reached Pittsburg at 9 
o'clock p. m. Friday, having left Chambersburg a 
little before sundown on Wednesday. I have no 
pleasant memories of that ride, and hope that no 
one, saint or sinner, will ever be subjected to the 
calamity of suffering as I suffered. 

From Pittsburg I descended the Ohio on the 
steamer "Majestic" and at Wheeling many who 
had been to the Baltimore Convention came on 
board, full of patriotic zeal, and perfectly assured 
of Mr. Clay's election. Some talked eloquently of 
what his administration would be, and some sang 
Whig songs, not forgetting the lines quoted : 

' ' Get out of the way — you are all unlucky ; 
Clear the track for old Kentucky." 

I reached Louisville May 7th and visited the 
families of my friends, Halbert and Heth, who 
had married into the Willson family. On the 8th, 
in the afternoon, I left Louisville for Bowling 



Home by Steamer General Warren. 85 

Green on the steamer General Warren, and found 
several acquaintances on board, among them Judge 
E. M. Ewing. The boat reached the mouth of 
Green River early on the 9th and passed through 
two locks during the day. These locks are incom- 
parably better than any on the Pennsylvania Canal. 
Green River is a very fine stream, though not very 
straight. The distance from where Big Barren 
River empties into Green River to Bowling Green is 
not great. I therefore arrived at home on the 10th, 
after an absence of twenty-nine clays. My family 
had just returned from Glasgow. There was no 
concert between us, for there was no certainty then 
as to the time of a boat's arrival, but we all reached 
home about the same hour — a very agreeable coin- 
cidence. We devoutly thanked God for his pre- 
serving goodness during our separation, and for our 
re-union amid favorable circumstances. 

On a review of my journey I feel glad that I at- 
tended the Triennial Convention. It gave me an 
opportunity of seeing many men of whom I had 
often heard, but whom I had not seen. Among 
these were Spencer H. Cone, Francis Wayland, 
Daniel Sharp, William R. Williams, Bartholomew 
T. Welch, Richard Fuller, George B. Ide, Jeremiah 
B. Jeter, J. B. Taylor, William Hague, Rufus Bab- 
cock, William W. Everts, Adiel Sherwood, Daniel 
Dodge, Nathaniel Colver and many others. Con- 
cerning a few only of these I record my opinion : I 
think Dr. Wayland was the most profound man 
among them. I had studied his "Moral Science " 



86 Reminiscences. 

with no little interest and felt a great veneration for 
him. He had a wonderful power of analysis, and 
could easily show the component parts of a subject. 
When introduced to him I inquired concerning his 
health : He replied, "I am as stiff as a cow," and 
I thought if the President of Brown University 
knows about cows I need not be afraid of him. 

Dr. Williams was no doubt the most learned man 
I saw. He was a student from his boyhood, and 
being lame he could not play at school ^ and spent 
"playtime" in reading. This may have had some- 
thing to do with his life-long love of books. He 
was the most diffident man I have ever seen. I 
heard him make a speech and it was some minutes 
before he could raise his eyes and look at his 
hearers, who were eager to catch every word that 
fell from his lips. His sentences were beautiful 
rhetoric, but at times somewhat artificial. I think 
this may be seen, too, in his books. His style is by 
no means so clear and forcible as Dr. Wayland's. 
Other persons may not think so. 

I have already referred to Dr. Fuller as eloquent. 
He easily bore away the palm of pulpit oratory in 
his best days. He was well versed in logic and at 
home in rhetoric, apt in illustration and pathetic in 
appeal. His person was commanding, his voice 
charming, his elocution impressive, his gesticulation 
natural. It was in the year 1845 that he and Dr. 
Wayland had their written discussion on slavery. 
Published at first in the Reflector of Boston, it was 
afterward published in book form, and everybody 






Dr. Bobert Byland. 87 

ought to read it to see with what dignity a discussion 
can be conducted, and how men can differ and still 
respect each other. 

Alas, of the brethren I have named not one of 
them is now in the land of the living. They have all 
fallen under the stroke of death. They had their 
trials and sorrows while here, but they are free from 
them now. They had their struggles with tempta- 
tion and sin, but they have gone where temptation 
does not assail, and where there is no sin. 

"Part of the host have crossed the flood, 
And part are crossing- now." 

Of all the distinguished brethren I met in 1844, I 
know of no one now alive except Dr. Robert 
Ryland, of Lexington, Kentucky — venerated and 
beloved by all who enjoy his acquaintance. His 
hoary head is a crown of glory. 



CHAPTER X. 

Me. Polk's Election — Texas Annexed — War 
with Mexico — Treaty of Peace — The Ques- 
tion of Emancipation in Kentucky — John L. 
Waller — Western Baptist Review. 

The general impression had been that Mr. Clay 
would be elected President. So confident was Judge 
Ewing that he thought it doubtful whether Mr. Polk 
would receive the electoral vote of a single State in 
the Union. He did not carry his own State of 
Tennessee, but he was elected, to the astonishment 
of the nation and of the civilized world. Mr. Clay 
had had Presidential aspirations from 1824, when 
he, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and 
William H. Crawford were candidates. There 
never was a time when he could have been elected 
except in 1840, when William Henry Harrison was 
the successful Whig candidate. Mr. Polk was a 
man of respectable talents, had been a member of 
Congress for some years, was Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, but was not to be compared, in 
ability, with Mr. Clay. He, however, received a 
majority of the electoral, and also of the popular 
vote. 

It is the impression of many, even to this day, 
that as the result of Mr. Polk's election, Texas was 

(88) 



Texas Annexed. 89 

annexed to the United States.. This is a mistake, 
for the annexation took place just before the expi- 
ration of Mr. Tyler's term of office. Mr. Tyler 
became President on the death of General Harrison. 
In the latter part of his administration he made Mr. 
Calhoun Secretary of State, and thus he had a very 
able man to engineer the annexation of Texas. 
This was done not by treaty, but by a joint resolu- 
tion of both Houses of Congress. It could not be 
expected that Mexico would quietly submit to this, 
and soon were heard rumors of war. Whigs and 
Democrats differed very widely as to the origin and 
even the righteousness of the war. Whigs consid- 
ered the river Nueces the boundary between the 
United States and Mexico, while Democrats made 
the Rio Grande the dividing line. Mr. Polk ordered 
General Taylor, with the army under his command, 
to the Rio Grande, and there was not found a Texas 
family between this river and the Nueces. This 
fact is stated by General Grant in his "Personal 
Memoirs, " and he was with General Taylor. The 
Whigs therefore believed that Mr. Polk was quite 
unreasonable in assuming that the territory of the 
United States extended to the Rio Grande. While 
General Taylor's troops were opposite Matamoras a 
few Mexicans crossed the river and in a little skirmish 
a little blood was shed. This was enough for Mr. 
Polk and he issued a proclamation in which he de- 
clared, " American blood has been shed on American 
soil." This statement was believed by Democrats 
and earnestly denied by Whigs. Hon. J. J. Crit- 



90 Reminiscences. 

tenden applied to it the plain Anglo-Saxon term 
"lie," for be did not believe that there was any 
' ' American soil ' ' between the Nueces and the Rio 
Grande. War with its attendant horrors came, and 
I think now, as I thought then, that the two politi- 
cal parties exemplified the two kinds of insanity, 
mental and moral. That is to say, Democrats were 
mentally insane in believing that the territory be- 
tween the two rivers belonged to the United States, 
and Whigs were morally insane in voting for and 
urging the prosecution of a war which they pro- 
nounced unjust. While Whig members of Congress, 
with Democrats, voted supplies for carrying on the 
war, such men as Cassius M. Clay, Thomas F. Mar- 
shall, Henry Clay, Jr., and many others, belonging 
to the Whig party, volunteered their services and 
made their way to Mexico. General Taylor was of 
course ordered to cross the Rio Grande and to en- 
gage the Mexican forces. He was very successful 
in his battles, became the idol of the army and very 
popular in the United States, so that he was in a 
short time heir ajypa^ent, and afterward real heir to 
the Presidency. Mr. Polk was annoyed for fear the 
glory of the war would not inure to the Democratic 
party, and for a time he was anxious to put Col. 
Thomas H. Benton in command of the army ; but 
this could not well be done. General Scott was first 
in military authority and was ordered to Mexico. 
He sailed for Yera Cruz, bombarded and captured 
the place, and then proceeded without very much 
fighting to the city of Mexico. By this time it was 



Treaty of Peace. 91 

known that the army of the United States was vic- 
torious and Gen. Scott rode on a high horse into 
the capital city of the enemy with all the pomp and 
display of which he was childishly found. 

In due time a treaty was made in which the Rio 
Grande was named as the boundary line (although 
Democrats said it was the line before) and New 
Mexico and California were ceded to the United 
States. 

The consequences resulting from the treaty were 
unexpected and far-reaching. The purpose of Mr. 
Polk and his party was that the territory ceded 
should enlarge the area of slavery ; but in this they 
were disappointed. When the matter came before 
Congress for discussion and decision, California was 
admitted into the Union as a free State, and there 
was a failure to establish slavery in New Mexico. 
The discussion was earnest and even vehement. 
Mr. Jefferson Davis in the Senate insisted that there 
should be a recognition of slavery in New Mexico ; 
but Mr. Clay said that no earthly power could make 
him vote to send slavery where it was not. Mr. 
Webster argued in his celebrated speech of March 
7, 1850, that it would be needlessly offensive to the 
South to declare New Mexico free, because God in 
the physical conformation of the territory had vir- 
tually made slavery impossible, and that no action 
of Congress was called for. For this speech Mr. 
Webster was denounced by many of his former 
friends, but at this day we can see he was patriotic 
and wise. The oil of vitriol so copiously poured on 



92 Reminiscences. 

his head was out of place and posterity will do him 
justice. 

General Taylor was at this time President, having 
been elected in 1848, but he died July 9, 1850, 
leaving Mr. Fillmore to take his place. 

One of the results of the treaty with Mexico was 
the discovery of gold in California, and this affected 
the condition of things not only in the United States 
but throughout the world. Many persons went in 
hot haste to California in pursuit of gold, the city 
of San Francisco was built up, and railroads reach- 
ing the shores of the Pacific have been constructed. 
There has been a Divine providence in all this 
which reminds us that God can bring good out of 
evil. A war, unjustifiable on the par.t of the United 
States, has resulted in many beneficial consequences. 
We need not now speculate as to what the state of 
things would have been if California had not been 
admitted into the Union. 

The year 1819 was an important year in Kentucky. 
A new Constitution was to be formed, and the 
friends of Emancipation hoped that some provision 
might be inserted in it for the gradual abolition of 
slavery in the State. Mr. Clay wrote an able letter 
on the subject which was extensively circulated. 
The plan he advocated was that all slaves born in 
the State after a certain time should be free at cer- 
tain ages — males at twenty-eight years and females 
at twenty-one. I was not satisfied with these num- 
bers, for, in my judgment, they deferred the period 
of freedom too long. Having business in upper 



The Question of Emancipation in Kentucky. 93 

Kentucky in the Summer of 1848, I visited Mr. 
Clay and conversed with him on the subject. He 
insisted that without a large concession to the pro- 
slavery feeling of the State nothing could be done, 
and he was right in this view. Indeed, it was after- 
ward seen that no concession would have been satis- 
factory to the advocates of slavery. During the 
canvass for Delegates to the Constitutional Conven- 
tion in 1849, the Emancipation party thought it 
wise to vote for men in favor of what was signifi- 
cantly called the "open clause." By this it was 
meant that if the Convention failed to adopt any 
measure of Emancipation, the adoption of the 
"open clause " would enable the Legislature at any 
time to submit the question to the people, untram- 
melled by any other question. 

I was deeply interested in the subject of Emanci- 
pation, for all the pulsations of my heart beat in 
favor of civil liberty. There was an Emancipation 
paper, called The Examiner, published in Louisville, 
and I wrote for it more than twenty articles signed 
"A Southern Emancipationist." I incurred the ill 
will of many, and an old friend said to me, " I do 
not see how an honest man can be in favor of 
Emancipation." I bore it quietly. It may surely 
be said that some of the ablest men in the State were 
on the side of Emancipation, such men as Henry 
Clay, President Young of Center College, Dr. Mal- 
com of Georgetown College, Drs. B. J. and W. L. 
Breckinridge, Dr. E. P. Humphrey, Dr. Stuart 
Bobinson, Judges Nicholas, Tompkins, Underwood, 



94 Beminiscences. 

Graham, and many others. But the influence of 
these strong men was unavailing. The pro-slavery 
party was triumphant at the election of delegates by 
a very large majority. My spirit sank within me 
and I saw no hope for the African race in Kentucky, 
or anywhere else without the interposition of some 
Providential judgment. The thought did not enter 
into my mind that a terrible civil war would secure 
liberty to every ^iave in the United States. That 
God brought slavery to an end I shall attempt to 
show in another place. 

It was in the Summer of 1849 that I resigned the 
care of the church in Bowling Green. I thought it 
best to do, as I supposed that my views of Emanci- 
pation were not acceptable to some of the members. 
The church, however, was unwilling to receive the 
resignation, requested me to remain pastor, and I 
did so remain till the end of the year. Persons at 
this day cannot easily imagine how strong the pro- 
slavery feeling was in Kentucky before and at the 
election of Delegates to the Constitutional Conven- 
tion. When it was known that Dr. Malcom had 
voted the Emancipation ticket, some of the Trustees 
of the College gave him to understand that his res- 
ignation of the Presidency would be acceptable. 
He did resign and went East. There was some dis- 
cussion in the papers concerning the resignation and 
I think the Trustees regretted the treatment Dr. 
Malcom received. I defended him in some news- 
paper articles, and it is a satisfaction to me now 
that years after he said to me, ''You are the man 



John L. Waller. 95 

who defended me in Kentucky." I think I may 
say that I have always had a propensity to defend 
my friends when unjustly assailed. 

After the result of the election was known those 
opposed to Emancipation, being in an overwhelming 
majority, felt that they could afford to be courteous 
and magnanimous toward their opponents. I at- 
tended the General Association in October of that 
year, at Lexington, and was treated with great 
kindness. It was arranged, too, for me to attend 
the ordination of Rev. J. W. Warder at Frankfort 
in ^November, and preach the sermon. I saw clearly 
that there was no intention to ostracize me. Most 
of the men of that time have passed away. I am 
left to pen these lines. 

I have failed to say, in the proper place, that in 
the year 1845, Rev. John L. Waller, editor of The 
Baptist Banner, began the publication of the 
Western Baptist Review, a monthly magazine. It 
was published at Frankfort, Ky. I had written 
occasional articles for the Banner for some years, 
and Mr. Waller was pleased to ask me to become a 
contributor to his Review. I did so, and find from 
an examination of the four volumes before me that 
if I did not have the pen of a ready writer I had a 
pen that was often in use. My articles are rather 
numerous, and I may say that in writing for the 
Review I learned to write with greater care than I 
had exercised in writing transient pieces for news- 
papers. I found this an advantage, by way of con- 
centrating my attention on a subject, and I have 



96 Reminiscences. 

tried to write carefully ever since. I may have 
carried this thing to a greater length than most 
writers, for I have written nothing a second time. 
All my books have been written once and then 
printed. It is impossible to write with requisite 
care if a writer knows that he is going to re-write 
his manuscript, or make any important interlinea- 
tions in it. Some of my descendants may profit by 
these views after I am gone. 

Mr. Waller was probably the ablest writer among 
the Baptists of Kentucky. He wielded a vigorous 
pen, and on the chain of his logic he often hung 
festoons of beautiful rhetoric. Many of his pro- 
ductions in this Revieiv exhibit transcendent power 
and, though written more than forty years ago, may 
be read with profit now. There are, however, but 
few copies of the Review in existence. Mr. Waller 
did not preach very much, but his sermons were 
very instructive. There was one, easily first of all 
his discourses. Its title is, "The Bible Adapted to 
the Spiritual Wants of the World," and it was 
preached before the Kentucky and Foreign Bible 
Society, Danville, October 16, 1846. It is pub- 
lished in the second volume of the Review, and is 
Mr. Waller's masterpiece as a sermon. 

As a debater Mr. Waller was quite celebrated. 
He had a discussion, afterward published, with Mr. 
Pingree on Universalism, and with several Pedo- 
baptists on Baptism. Among these was Rev. N. L. 
Rice, and when these two champions came together 
they were foemen worthy of each other's steel. I 



Death of John L. Waller. 97 

have heard that Dr. Kice pronounced Waller abler 
than Alexander Campbell on the baptismal question. 

Mr. Waller did in 1849 what I and many of his 
friends regretted. He became a candidate, in 
Woodford County, for a seat in the Constitutional 
Convention and he was elected over the brilliant 
Thomas F. Marshall. I am sorry to say that the 
pro-slavery element decided the election. Mr. 
Waller made a pro-slavery speech in the Conven- 
tion which I reviewed, anonymously, in the Louis- 
ville Courier. Our friendly relations were not 
disturbed. 

Mr. Waller was a strong advocate of the revision 
of the Bible, and it was through his influence that I 
was appointed to deliver an address before the 
American Bible Union, in New York, in October, 
1854. Having performed the duty, I returned by 
way of Niagara, and on reaching Louisville I learned 
that Waller was dead. He died October 10, 1854, 
and the funeral sermon was preached by Dr. W. W. 
Everts. There is no protection from the grave. 



CHAPTEK XI. 

Meeting at Green River Church, Ohio County — 
Removal to Russellville — Birth of Our 
Third Daughter — Return to Bowling Green 
— Revival Under the Preaching of J. R. 
Graves — Birth and Marriage of Our Second 
Son. 

My pastorate at Bowling Green ended for a time 
with the end of the year 1849. I had promised my 
friend Rev. Alfred Taylor to aid him, as soon as I 
could, in a meeting with his church at Green River, 
Ohio County. I therefore complied with my promise 
early in January, 1850. Brother Taylor and I had 
been for many years on terms of intimate friend- 
ship. I regarded him one of the best men I ever 
knew. He was a sound evangelical preacher and 
great success attended his ministry. It is said that 
he baptized more young men who became preachers 
than any other minister in Kentucky. 

In the meeting referred to I was required to do 
the preaching, and in three weeks I preached twenty- 
one sermons. The Lord was pleased to grant His 
blessing. The church was revived and sinners were 
converted. I do not remember how many were 
baptized, but the number was considerable. 

After the meeting was over Brother Taylor told 
me of a compliment paid me by a plain farmer, 



Bemoval to Bussellville. 99 

which I have prized more than anything of the kind 
ever said about me. Men of learning and distinc- 
tion have sometimes said favorable things concern- 
ing my preaching ; but I have appreciated nothing 
so much as the remark of the farmer. He said, 
"Any one who cannot understand that preaching 
will not be held accountable at the judgment." 
However this may be, every preacher should make 
it a point to preach plainly as well as earnestly, 
faithfully and lovingly. 

I cannot say certainly whether I ever saw Brother 
Taylor after this meeting. He died October 9, 
1855, leaving three sons in the ministry. Happy 
man, to go up to heaven with three lineal and 
spiritual representatives to plead the cause of Christ 
on earth ! 

After the meeting at Green River Church I visited 
different parts of the State, but was thinking all the 
while about removing North of the Ohio River. 
Having this matter under consideration, friends at 
Russellville requested me to make no engagement, 
and in due time I was called to the pastorate there. 
I accepted the call and was settled the latter part of 
July. While at Russellville, that is to say, on the 
25th of August, our third daughter, whose name is 
Lila, was born. She was a delicate child from her 
birth and for some years was a great sufferer, so 
that she could not enjoy the pleasures of other 
children. In consequence of the calamities of the 
war we could not send her to college, as we had 
done with our other daughters. She was therefore 



100 Beminiscences. 

taught at home. She made very respectable pro- 
ficiency in English under the instruction of her 
mother, while an older sister gave her lessons in 
French, and I took her through the Latin course. 

In the year 1868 she professed conversion and 
was baptized at Upland, Pennsylvania. By min- 
gling in the best society she has overcome the 
disadvantages of her childhood and youth, and acts 
well her part in any circle in which she is called to 
move. On the 9th of November, 1876, she was 
united in marriage with Mr. Benjamin F. Procter, 
of Bowling Green, a prominent lawyer, who has 
been very successful in his profession. They are 
congenial spirits and enjoy as much domestic happi- 
ness as falls to the lot of mortals. Mr. Procter 
has served for several years as Superintendent of 
the Sunday-school of the First Baptist Church in 
Bowling Green, and Lila has been a zealous teacher. 
A Presbyterian preacher has pronounced her the 
best teacher he ever saw. 

My sojourn at Kussellville was pleasant, so far as 
the church and congregation were concerned, but 
the ' ' parsonage ' ' was not at all comfortable, and 
we were anxious to get some other house, but could 
not. It was while I was at Russellville that the 
Bethel Association decided on the establishment of 
a High School, which some years after became 
Bethel College. No one at the time thought of a 
college, and there are many now who think George- 
town the only Collegiate Institution needed by the 
Baptists of Kentucky. But Bethel lias done, and 



Revival Under the Preaching of J. R. Graves. 101 

is still doing a good work, and it is useless to talk, 
as some do, about transferring its endowment to 
Georgetown. This will not be done. 

All the time I was in Russellville the Church at 
Bowling Green was without a pastor, and my house 
there was not rented. In thinking of the discom- 
forts of the "parsonage" we naturally thought of 
the comforts of our home and wished to be in it 
again. While occupied with these thoughts, I was 
invited to resume my former place in Bowling 
Green, and accepted the invitation. 

Everything went on in the ordinary style till Feb- 
ruary, 1852, when Rev. J. R. Graves, of Nashville, 
held a meeting with us. The prospect was, at first, 
by no means bright. The truth is, the church was 
not far from a state of Laodicean lukewarmness. 
Brother Graves at once saw this, and his sermons 
for the first week of the meeting, were addressed 
exclusively to the church. He said he "could not 
preach to impenitent sinners over a dead church." 
Brethren and sisters were awakened from their 
spiritual apathy, and the spirit of prayer took pos- 
session of them. They called mightily on God, 
confessed their backslidings, and sought a restora- 
tion of the joy of Salvation. When this joy was 
restored, and not till then, they were prepared to 
labor for the salvation of sinners. This is in per- 
fect accordance with the language of David : 
"Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation ; and 
uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then will I teach 
transgressors Thy ways and sinners shall be con- 



102 Reminiscences. 

verted unto Thee." (Psalm li : 12, 13.) Brother 
Graves well understood the true philosophy of a 
revival of religion. By the time saints were re- 
vived, sinners were awakened and began to inquire, 
"What must we do to be saved?" There was a 
sense of guilt and danger. Inquirers felt that sin 
had proved their ruin, that they were justly con- 
demned, that they could not save themselves, and 
that, if saved, it must be by the grace of God. 
The way of salvation through Christ was presented 
and one anxious soul after another saw it and re- 
joiced in it. The seats of inquirers, vacated by 
happy converts, were filled again and again by 
anxious souls. Thus the meeting went on from day 
to day and from week to week until about seventy- 
five persons, young and old, were baptized and 
added to the church. Truly it was a time of re- 
freshing from the presence of the Lord. Our old 
meeting-house was not large, but the members of 
the church now filled all the seats at the Lord's 
Supper, and we began to plan for a new house of 
worship. It was not long before a lot was bought 
on Main Street at what now appears a marvelously 
cheap price (seven dollars a foot) and a building 
was erected, into which we entered in 1854. This 
house is still occupied. 

I may say of Brother Graves that no man ever 
conducted a meeting more judiciously. His ser- 
mons were able and instructive, his exhortations 
were powerful, and his advice to inquirers and 
young converts just what it should be. There was 



Contributor to the Tennessee Baptist. 103 

considerable excitement among Pedobaptists on the 
subject of Baptism and several sermons were after- 
ward preached by Methodist and Presbyterian 
ministers. Before the excitement subsided I was 
called on to preach a dedication sermon at Liberty 
Church, Logan County, and I gave my reasons for 
being a Baptist. These were afterward expanded 
into a little book styled "Three Reasons Why I Am 
a Baptist. " This book was published in 1853 and 
was my first attempt at authorship. It had a good 
circulation, and I subsequently sold the copyright 
and stereotype plates to Graves, Marks & Co., of 
Nashville. After twenty-eight years, when the 
copyright had fully expired, I revised and enlarged 
the book, and it was published in the year 1882 by 
the American Baptist Publication Society, with the 
title, "Distinctive Principles of Baptists." I wish 
my descendants and others to consider this volume 
as my testimony in favor of Baptist Principles. 

From the time of the meeting above referred to, I 
became a regular contributor to the Tennessee Bap- 
tist, a weekly sheet published in Nashville, J. R. 
Graves, editor. I wrote on various subjects and 
was requested to write several articles on this ques- 
tion : "Ought Baptists to Recognize Pedobaptist 
Preachers as Gospel Ministers?" I answered in 
the negative, and wrote four articles which were 
afterward published in pamphlet form under the 
title, "An Old Landmark Re-set." Bro. Graves 
furnished the title, for he said the " Old Landmark " 
once stood, but had fallen, and needed to be 



104 Reminiscences. 

' c re-set. " So much for the name. This tract had 
a wide circulation, for the copy now before me has 
on the title page the words, "Fortieth Thousand. " 
The position I had taken was most earnestly contro- 
verted by a large number of brethren. Drs. Waller, 
Burrows, Lynd, Everts, and Prof. Farnam, among 
Baptists, took part in the discussion, and Drs. Cos- 
sitt and Hill, who were Presbyterians. I replied 
to them all in an Appendix to the "Landmark," 
and after more than thirty years have passed away, 
I still think that I refuted their arguments. I do 
not wonder therefore, that Dr. N. M. Crawford, of 
Georgia, said that I had never been answered. 
The ' c Old Landmark ' ' has been out of print for 
many years and it would be very difficult to obtain 
a copy, but the discussions connected with it have 
modified the views of many Baptists in the South, 
and of some in the North. 

The controversy was and is a strange one : In 
one sense, all Roman Catholics and all Protestant 
Pedobaptists are on the side of the "Landmark." 
That is to say, they believe, and their practice of 
infant baptism compels the belief, that baptism must 
precede the regular preaching of the gospel. This 
is just what Landmark Baptists say, and they say, 
in addition, that immersion alone is baptism, indis- 
pensable to entrance into a gospel church, and that 
from such a church must emanate authority, under 
God, to preach the gospel. All this is implied in 
the immemorial custom, among Baptist churches, of 
licensing and ordaining men to preach. But I will 



Birth and Marriage of Our Second Son. 105 

not enlarge : I have said this that my children and 
grandchildren may know what the "Old Land- 
mark" was, and why I wrote it. Baptists can never 
protest effectually against the errors of Pedobaptists 
while the preachers of the latter are recognized as 
gospel ministers. This to me is very plain. 

The birth of our second son, the last birth in our 
family, occurrred on the 24th of May, 1855. We 
called him Garnett that he might preserve the 
maiden name of his mother. He was a healthy, 
good child and soon became a favorite in the family. 
We of course took him with us when we removed 
to Tennessee in 1857, and to Ohio in 1862, and to 
Pennsylvania in 1865. An account of these re- 
movals will be given in future chapters. Garnett, 
like our other children, was taught by his mother for 
several years, and then went for a time to the acad- 
emy of Mr. Aaron, at Mt. Holly, New Jersey. This 
was with a view to his preparation for college, but 
he was very imperfectly prepared. Before he left 
home, at a time of some religious interest, he made 
profession of his faith in Christ and was baptized 
with his sister Lila the 12th of January, 1868. 
They both went down into the water together and 
it was a happy time for their father. It has so 
happened that I have baptized all my children and 
married them all, except the one who died unmarried. 

My exalted opinion of President M. B. Ander- 
son decided me to send my son to the University of 
Rochester,' New York. He was there four years, 
and though he did not take the ' l first honor, ' ' so- 



106 Reminiscences. 

called, he had a respectable standing in the gradu- 
ating class of 1875. On his return home, he became 
a student of law in the office of E. Coppee Mitchell, 
of Philadelphia. Here he remained three years, 
attending, in the meantime, the Lectures in the Law 
School of Pennsylvania University and graduating 
at the expiration of that period. His purpose, at 
first, was to open an office in Philadelphia ; but on 
due reflection he decided to settle in Chester, Penn- 
sylvania, where he now lives (1891) and has a 
respectable practice. There is no lawyer of his age 
who prepares his cases more laboriously and ex- 
haustively, and there is no one who has a better 
faculty of analysis, or can make a stronger logical 
argument. 

Garnett was married in the First Baptist Church, 
Philadelphia, December 30, 1879, to Miss Helena 
Ward, daughter of Rev. William Ward, D. D., 
Missionary to Assam. She was born on the Island 
of St. Helena, and hence her name. One bright 
child, Emma, now six years old, whom her blind 
grandmother has taught to read, is the fruit of this 
marriage. Where the great Napoleon found a 
prison, and Mrs. Sarah B. Judson a grave, Helena 
first saw the light. Years afterward she saw in 
Philadelphia the light of salvation and was baptized 
by Rev. Mr. Rees, pastor of the Tabernacle Bap- 
tist Church. 

There is nothing pertaining to Garnett that grati- 
fies his parents more than the fact that he is a useful 
member of the Upland Baptist Church and the 



Garnett Pendleton. 107 

teacher of a Bible class of about seventy grown 
persons. He is highly appreciated as an expositor 
of the Sunday-school lessons. Hay there be long 
years of Christian usefulness before him ! It will 
probably devolve on him to write at the end of 
these Reminiscences the date of the death of their 
author. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Removed to Murfreesboro, Tennessee — Union 
University- — Theological Department — Pres- 
ident Eaton and Wife — Tennessee Baptist 
and Southern Baptist Review — Charge of 
Anti-Slavery Sentiments Brought Against 
Me — A Little Discussion with Alexander 
Campbell. 

On the first day of January, 1857, I left Bowling 
Green and removed to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 
Nothing had been more unexpected by me. The 
explanation of the matter is this : The Trustees of 
Union University decided to establish a Theological 
Department in the Institution, and, to my amaze- 
ment, they appointed me professor. When informed 
of the fact I promptly declined the appointment and 
told the Trustees that I was utterly incompetent, 
having never been to a theological school, and 
knowing nothing of theology except what I had 
learned from the Bible. I thought this would end 
the negotiation, but the Trustees said they wanted a 
man who had learned his theology from the Bible. 
I then replied that preaching the gospel was my busi- 
ness and that I could not give it up for any thing 
in the world. I supposed that this would settle 

(108) 



Union University. 109 

the matter, but the Trustees were ready to meet this 
state of the case. They said that the Baptist church 
in Murfreesboro was without a pastor, and that I 
would be chosen to the pastorate, so that I could 
preach every Sunday and teach theology during the 
week. They argued that in this way my usefulness 
would be increased, and this consideration alone in- 
duced the acceptance of the professorship offered 
me. I thought it my duty to God to place myself 
in a position promising greater usefulness. I there- 
fore, with a sad heart, resigned my pastorate at 
Bowling Green, and, in broken accents, preached 
my last sermon, which was heard by many whose 
eyes were filled with tears. It was a day of sorrow. 

It is proper to say that, at that time, the Southern 
Baptist Theological Seminary had not been estab- 
lished, and it was thought wise to have theological 
instruction in colleges. Thorough teaching was, of 
course, out of the question, and the plan was for in- 
struction in theology to be interspersed with literary 
pursuits through the collegiate course. This was 
the best that could then be done, but the work of 
the Seminary now supersedes this arrangement. 

While connected with Union University I had, 
first and last, between forty and fifty ministerial 
students under my instruction. The different classes 
could not be so arranged as to give me more than 
an hour a day for my class in theology ; and it was 
not long before other classes were given me, so that 
I had to teach five hours a day. Marvellous to say, 
I had to teach many things of which I knew abso- 



110 Beminiscences. 

lutely nothing, except what 1 had learned myself 
without the aid of any one. I had therefore to go 
ahead of the classes, and it is a wonder to me to 
this day how I was able to conceal my ignorance so 
as to avoid the ignominy of its exposure. In the 
Theological Department, the text-books I used were 
Home's Introduction, Ripley's Sacred Rhetoric, 
Dagg's and Dick's Theology. One brother, rather 
more candidly than encouragingly said that the de- 
partment was a u one-horse concern." Even so ; 
but the students had to learn what they could from 
one teacher, as they could not go to a regular theo- 
logical seminary. The greatest improvement I saw 
in the young preachers was in the art of sermoniz- 
ing. They studied Ripley to great advantage, and 
listened attentively to my extemporaneous explana- 
tions. I trust they received some benefit, and some 
of them became useful. 

Dr. Joseph H. Eaton was President of the Uni- 
versity. He was a man of intellectual power and 
broad scholarship, not inferior, as I think, to his 
brother George W., who died President of Madison, 
now Colgate University. Dr. Joseph H. was a very 
laborious teacher, enthusiastic in his work, and 
almost compelled by the cares of the Presidency to 
do overwork. When I first knew him he was a fine 
specimen of manly beauty, and his sermons and 
addresses were replete with vigor and eloquence. 
But his noble physical frame succumbed to disease 
and he died in the prime of his life, January 1859, 
leaving a bereaved University, a bereaved church, 



President Eaton and Wife. Ill 

and a more bereaved family. It devolved on me to 
preach the funeral sermon and the text was, "Lord 
Jesus, receive my Spirit." (Acts vii : 59). The 
general feeling was, "A great man has fallen in 
Israel." Mrs. Eaton, left to feel the desolateness 
of widowhood, was a remarkable woman, equal in 
intellectual and spiritual qualities to her husband. 
She spent many years of her life in teaching, and 
left her impress on the minds of many young ladies. 
She lived a widow more than twenty-five years and 
died in Louisville in 1886. I preached her funeral 
sermon also, from Rev. xiv : 13 : "Blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord," etc. Two children 
survive, Rev. T. T. Eaton, D.D., and Mrs. J. E. 
Peck, who are worthy representatives of their 
parents, and who are occupying positions of useful- 
ness. 

After President Eaton's death the faculty con- 
sisted of Professors George W. Jarman, Paul W. 
Dodson, and A. S. Worrell, with all of whom my 
relations were specially pleasant. For two years I 
acted as Chairman of the faculty and therefore pre- 
sided on commencement occasions, and handed to 
the graduates their diplomas in testimony of their 
scholarship. 

Rev. J. R. Graves had long been editor of the 
Tennessee Baptist, published at Nashville, and in 
1858, Rev. A. C. Dayton and I became joint editors 
with him. Dr. Dayton (not a D.D. but an M.D.) 
is best known as the author of "Theodosia Ernest," 
a book of great celebrity, having had a wide circu- 



112 Reminiscences. 

lation, and which was written, as I know, to show 
that there is, in the republic of letters, a realm 
which sanctified fiction should claim as its own. 

My • becoming editor did not impose on me the 
necessity of writing more than I had done ; for I 
had been for several years engaged to supply two 
columns a week for the paper, and was one of the 
editors of the Southern Baptist Review for the six 
years of its existence, immediately preceding the 
war. It may be inferred that mine was not an idle 
life in Tennessee. My body would probably have 
sunk under the mental strain if I had not taken 
active exercise on my little farm. I often plowed 
by way of recreation in the afternoon, and did other 
work which needed to be done. Usually I finished 
my editorials by nine o'clock Saturday night. I 
did too much for any mortal man to do. I advise 
no one to copy my example except in part. 

While engaged in performing these onerous duties, 
I was charged with being an "Abolitionist." The 
charge, so far as I know, was first made by Dr. 
Dawson, then editor of the Alabama Baptist paper. 
In justice to him it is proper to say that he had, as 
he stated it, no feeling against me " personally /" 
but he declared boldly that no man of my anti- 
slavery views ought to belong to the faculty of any 
Southern college. I suppose he made no distinction 
between an " Abolitionist" and an "Emancipa- 
tionist." The latter was in favor of doing away 
with slavery gradually, according to State Constitu- 
tion and law ; the former believed slavery to be a 



Charge of Anti-Slavery Sentiments Brought Against Me. 113 

sin in itself, calling for immediate abolition without 
regard to consequences. I was an Emancipationist, 
as I have said, in Kentucky in 1849 ; but I was 
never for a moment an Abolitionist. The applica- 
tion of this term to a man was, at the time referred 
to, the most effectual way of creating hostility to 
him. I suppose one fact intensified the hostility in 
my case. In 1859 John Brown made his raid into 
Yirginia, and, as Greeley says in his "American 
Conflict," "The fifteen slave States were convulsed 
with fear, rage, and hate." The excitement in 
Tennessee was great and, farther South, still greater. 
Then it was that articles which I had published in 
Kentucky in 1849, in connection with the Emanci- 
pation movement there, were republished in a 
Nashville paper to excite prejudice against me, with 
a view to my dismissal from the faculty of the 
University. The thing was as cruel as the grave, 
and I did not know till the war was over who fur- 
nished the articles for publication. Then I learned 
that they were furnished by a brother who had de- 
livered a course of lectures to our theological 
students, and whose traveling expenses had been 
paid in part by me. This was the poetry of the 
case. He was, in spite of his strong pro-slavery 
feeling, a good man, a just man, and his recent 
death has no doubt released him from all earthly 
imperfections and introduced him into the blest 
region where "the spirits of just men are made 
perfect." 

The Trustees did not dismiss me. As an honora- 



114 Reminiscences. 

ble man I told them that if my views of slavery 
were unsatisfactory to them, and they thought my 
influence was injuring the University, they could 
have my resignation at any time, and that there was 
no earthly power that could compel me to remain in 
my position. The Trustees did not wish me to offer 
my resignation, and I did not. I therefore con- 
tinued in my place till the Institution suspended in 
April, 1861. 

It was while I was in Murfreesboro, that is, in 
my forty-ninth year, that I began to feel the need 
of spectacles. I first detected my failure of sight 
by my inability to see the figures opposite to the 
first lines of hymns in the Psalmist, which book we 
then used. I wondered why figures could not be as 
plain as letters, not thinking that there was any- 
thing the matter with my eyes. From my forty- 
ninth year till now (1891) it has not been necessary 
to change my eye-glasses. This, I suppose, is 
something unusual, and my children may be, inter- 
ested in knowing it. They need not be told that I 
have used my eyes by day and by night. 

It was during my residence in Tennessee that I 
had a little discussion with Alexander Campbell. 
He was a celebrated man and quite adroit in con- 
troversy. I wrote an article for the Tennessee Bap- 
tist, in which I argued the priority of repentance to 
faith. Mr. Campbell published a long reply in his 
Millennial Harbinger. To my astonishment, he 
treated me with marked respect, a thing he did not 
always do with his opponents. He insisted that 



A Little Discussion With Alexander Campbell. 115 

faith must precede repentance. In proof of my 
position I quoted such. Scriptures as these : " Repent 
and believe the gospel," "Testifying repentance 
toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
Christ." (Mark i : 15 ; Acts xx : 22.) Mr. Camp- 
bell said that the mention of repentance first was a 
matter of no significance. I insisted that in ex- 
plaining Scripture it is often indispensable to take 
things first that come first. In proof of this I 
quoted I Timothy v: 14, "I will therefore that the 
younger widows marry, bear children," etc. The 
point I made was of course that younger widows 
should marry before bearing children. There was, 
there could be no reply to this. 

Mr. Campbell was a great man, had a high repu- 
tation for scholarship, but this reputation was some- 
what impaired by his Revision of the Acts of the 
Apostles for the American Bible Union. 

Having referred to Mr. Campbell, I will now 
quote a long sentence from him in his written con- 
troversy with a "Clergyman," as published in the 
Harbinger. Bishop Smith, of Kentucky, was no 
doubt the "Clergyman." The Bishop contended 
that the validity of gospel ordinances depends on 
their administration by men Episcopally ordained. 
Mr. Campbell in reply used these words, which 
made such an impression on my memory that I have 
not forgotten them in thirty years. I quote them 
that my children may have an unsophisticated laugh. 
The long sentence is as follows : 

" If my salvation depended on a pure administra- 



116 Reminiscences. 

tion of baptism, I would rather have a pure, godly 
man to immerse me, on whose head the hands of 
Komish or British prelate were never laid, than to 
be baptized by any Bishop under these heavens, 
whose sacerdotal blood has run through ecclesiastic 
scoundrels ever since the flood which the fiery 
dragon issued out of his unsanctified mouth to 
drown the apostolic church in its early youth. ' ' 

A premium may well be offered for any sentence 
equal in all respects to this. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Civil War — The States' Rights Doctrine — 
The Position of the United States — The 
Overthrow of Slavery God's "Work — Slavery 
in Kentucky and Tennessee. 
The election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency in 
1860 was the occasion of the secession of most of 
the Southern States from the Union. They did not 
wait to see how he would fill his high office, but 
with impatient haste decided that he should not pre- 
side over them. The Southern Confederacy was 
organized at Montgomery, Alabama, in February, 
1861, and adopted measures to maintain its separate 
existence. The Confederacy wished to do this 
without war and asked to "be let alone ; " but this 
was impossible, especially after Fort Sumpter was 
fired on. The sound of the first gun was heard in 
every part of the nation, for it reached every nook 
and corner of the land. The people were roused 
as never before since the Revolutionary uprising. 
Some, even in the North, were willing for the "way- 
ward sisters," as they were called, to "go in 
peace ; " but the great majority of the nation were 
zealous for the integrity of the Union. It is proper 
to refer to the differences of opinion which were 
antagonistic, hostile, and implacable. In the South 
the doctrine of " States' Rights" was espoused and 

(117) 



118 Reminiscences. 

earnestly advocated. All that vigorous logic and 
fiery rhetoric could do was done. It was urged, in 
accordance with the "States' Eights" view, that a 
State could, at its option, withdraw from the Union. 
The celebrated Resolutions' of 1798-99, adopted by 
Virginia and Kentucky, were appealed to in support 
of this view. It is the part of candor to admit that 
these Resolutions embody a theoretical justification 
of secession, though in the history of the Govern- 
ment they had received no practical indorsement. 
Many Southern Democrats had been for years in 
favor of them, but no National Convention of the 
party declared its adherence to them till 1856, when 
Mr. Buchanan was nominated for the Presidency. 
After that it was natural for Democrats of the South 
to believe that, in case of their secession from the 
Union, they would be justified by the entire party. 
Had this turned out to be so, the result of the seces- 
sion movement would probably have been very 
different ; but Northern Democrats failed to act in 
concert with their brethren of the South. Indeed, 
many of them were not only on the side of the 
Union, but fought under the ' ' star-spangled ban- 
ner. " 

The Resolutions referred to declare that when 
there is a difference of judgment between a State 
and the United States the State may decide for itself 
as to its course of action. On this point my friends 
Dayton and Graves differed from me most materially. 
They believed the Government of the United States 
was oppressive and tyrannical, and their conclusion 



The States' Bights Doctrine. 119 

-was that the Southern States should secede from it. 
The argument of Dr. Dayton amazed, and would 
have amused me, if the times had not been too 
serious for amusement. He insisted that as the 
' ' people ' ' made the Constitution of the United 
States, they could alter or abolish it. This is doubt- 
less true of the whole people ; but Dr. Dayton said, 
therefore the people of Tennessee have the right to 
revoke their allegiance to the Government of the 
United States. I need not say that neither logic 
nor common sense authorizes the use of the particle 
therefore in such a connection. 

My friend Graves visited me and spent hours in 
trying to persuade me to declare myself in favor of 
the Confederacy. He thought my influence and 
usefulness would be greatly increased if I would do 
so, and would be ruined if I did not. I told him 
that if the Confederacy established itself I would 
either obey its laws or remove from its jurisdiction. 
This was not satisfactory, and after saying many 
things he asked me if I could not say that I pre- 
ferred the Confederate Government to that of the 
United States? My answer was, "I can't lie." 
This closed our interview. 

I make all allowances for the anxiety of Graves, 
Dayton, and others on my account ; for they hon- 
estly believed that the Confederacy would be a 
success, and that I would occupy the place of a 
"Tory" of the Revolution. The only question 
with me was, ' ' What is right ? ' * Having settled 
this question in favor of the United States, I took 



120 Beminiscences. 

my stand, and there were very few who stood with 
me. Those were dark days. Tennessee, in the year 
1860, was largely on the side of the Union, but the 
next year espoused the Confederacy. 

I had no difficulty in deciding my allegiance to 
the United States superior to any allegiance that 
could be due to a State. It was only necessary for 
me to read in the Constitution of the United States 
the second section of Article VI : ' ' This Constitu- 
tion, and the laws of the United States which shall 
be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties 
made, or which shall be made, under the authority 
of the United States, shall be the supreme law of 
the land ; and the Judges in every State shall be 
bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws 
of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." 

This is what the Constitution says of itself, and 
it is absurd for any State government to assume an 
attitude hostile to "the supreme law of the land." 
This the Confederate States did and vainly attempted 
to justify themselves. There were individuals in 
the South who, denying the right of secession, 
claimed what they called " the right of Revolution." 
I think Hon. John Bell belonged to this class. 
That he was wrong I have no doubt. 

Against the right of Revolution, when the masses 
of the people are oppressed under monarchical and 
aristocratic forms of government, I have nothing to 
say. I recognize sovereignty as inherent in the 
people and revolution is sometimes the only way in 
which down-trodden humanity can throw off its 



The Position of the United States. 121 

burdens. But I deny that the right of revolution 
can exist under a Republican form of government. 
This view, so far as I know, is original with me. 
In a Republican government the majority must rule. 
This is its foundation principle. Very well. Then 
if the majority wish to make any change in the 
method of government, they can do so peaceably, 
and without the violence which the term revolution 
implies. The right of revolution, then, does not 
belong to the majority, and if it did it would be 
superfluous, for the reason indicated, to exercise it. 
But can the right belong to the minority? Not 
unless the minority has the right to govern, which 
is absurd. Contemplate, then, the right of revolu- 
tion in connection with either a majority or a 
minority in a Republican government, and it has no 
existence ; for the people have adopted their form 
of government and can change it, if they please, 
without any revolutionary violence. The matter 
seems too plain to need elaboration. 

Believing the Confederacy, whether regarded as 
secession or revolution, had no right to exist, I had 
no sympathy with it, and heartily wished its over- 
throw by the Army and Navy of the United States. 
I am no advocate of war, but I say this, that with 
the exception of wars waged by command of God, 
of which we are told in the Old Testament, history 
contains no account of any war more justifiable than 
that waged by the United States against the Con- 
federacy. The South had as much to do as the 
North in making the National Constitution, but re- 



122 Reminiscences. 

fused to abide by the provisions of that Constitution 
when a President, whom the South disliked, was 
elected under it. For no one denied that Mr. Lin- 
coln was Constitutionally elected, and his oath of 
office certainly required him to put forth the power 
of the government to maintain the Union in its in- 
tegrity, and this was done. So much concerning 
the position of the United States. 

It was about midsummer in 1861, when the Con- 
federate flag was hoisted on the Court House in 
Murfreesboro, and there it waved for nine months, 
but I seldom saw it. I was unwilling to look at it, 
because it was usurping the place of the flag of the 
United States — the flag of my heart's love. The 
" stars and bars " were utterly distasteful to me. I 
was known to be a Union man, and it was no ad- 
vantage to me that nearly all my family connections, 
by blood and marriage, were on the other side. I 
suppose I was in greater danger of personal violence 
than I thought at the time. It is said that a citizen 
offered to head any company that would undertake 
to hang me, and that my name, accompanied by no 
complimentary remarks, was sent to the daring John 
Morgan. I knew not what might happen. I sup- 
posed that if measures of personal violence were 
resorted to, it would be done in the night ; and how 
often, before going to bed, did I arrange a back 
window and shutter, so that I could escape in a 
noiseless way ! My wife would put up a parcel of 
something for me to eat ; and I remember well how 



Went to Work on My Farm. 123 

sad her tones were when she said, "You may need 
this." 

I do not know how long I suffered from fear, but 
I know well how I was relieved. Everything being 
disorganized by the war, my means of support were 
cut off, and I went to work on my farm. I knew of 
nothing else I could do ; so I worked during the 
week and preached on Sunday to the very few that 
were willing to hear me. One day, while at work, 
there occurred something of which I have not often 
spoken. I do not claim that it was a vision, I do not 
believe it was, but my imagination was deeply im- 
pressed. I thought I was standing in the midst of 
a circle of demons incarnate, and that they were 
rushing toward me to tear me in pieces ; but they 
seemed to stop, and with gnashing teeth stretched 
forth their murderous hands to seize me, and could 
not. Amid the exciting scene, I thought that God 
was sitting in serene majesty above, and that He 
spoke to the demons, saying, "You can't touch him 
unless I permit." When I returned from the field 
members of my family said that my face, though 
covered with sweat, was shining. I know not as to 
that, but I know that I was relieved from fear, and 
could afterward sleep as sweetly as a child. I was 
fully satisfied that God would suffer no one to injure 
me unless it would be for the glory of His name, 
and then I was ready to endure anything, even 
death itself. 

After the Confederate flag had floated over the 
Court House in Murfreesboro for nine months, Gen- 



124 Reminiscences. 

eral Mitchell, with his magnificent division of the 
Arm j of the Cumberland, entered the town. Yery 
soon was the flag of the Union unfurled, displaying 
its starry glory. When I first saw it, my eyes filled 
with tears of love and joy. I do not expect ever 
again in this world to see anything so beautiful as 
that flag appeared to be. How I admired its "red, 
white, and blue ! " From that day, it has been no 
wonder to me that patriotic soldiers are willing to 
follow that flag into any danger and to die for it ; 
for it is the symbol of greater glory than Greece or 
Rome ever saw. 

I now anticipate one of the results of the war to 
emphasize the fact that the overthrow of slavery 
was God's work. I mean by this that in the early 
part of the war there was no reference to the exter- 
mination of slavery. The South of course had no 
such object in view, nor had the North. Mr. Lin- 
coln's supreme purpose was to preserve the Union 
without interfering with slavery. When he issued 
his Proclamation, September 22, 1862, he offered 
the seceded States the opportunity of coming back 
into the Union. In proof of their coming back 
they were to send members to Congress. Had they 
done this there would have been an end of the con- 
flict. The opportunity was not accepted and the 
war went on. The Emancipation Proclamation of 
January, 1863, was made because the Proclamation 
of September, 1862, was disregarded. That is to 
say, it was seen that the preservation of the Union 
required the abolition of slavery by a successful pros- 



The Overthrow of Slavery Go&s Work. 125 

ecution of the war. It was an overruling Providence 
that permitted things to reach this point. It was 
reached in opposition to Mr. Lincoln's wishes and pur- 
poses in the first years of the war, and it disappointed 
the expectations entertained in all parts of the country. 
This being the case, it is evident that the overthrow 
of slavery was not man's work. There was a God 
in heaven, presiding over all, and causing ' ' the 
wrath of man to praise Him," accomplishing His 
purpose by thwarting the designs of men, and even 
using them as instruments in His hands. The over- 
throw of American slavery was an epoch in the 
world's history, and it is the providence of God that 
creates epochs. Now, that slavery is abolished, there 
are no regrets, but rejoicings rather, both in the 
North and in the South. The North is glad that an 
institution in conflict with the Declaration of Inde- 
dendence no longer exists, and the South concedes 
that hired labor is better than slave servitude. Be- 
ing pretty well acquainted in the South, I may be 
permitted to say that I know no man who-would 
have slavery re-established. It is true that some of 
the emancipated slaves, perhaps many, have had a 
worse time in the early years of their freedom than 
when in slavery, but brighter days are before them. 
Then, too, they have the proud satisfaction of know- 
ing that liberty, with its priceless blessings, will be 
transmitted as a rich legacy to their posterity. For 
all this God deserves the glory and it should be 
given to Him. 

It is appropriate for me in closing this chapter to 



126 Reminiscences. 

say something of slavery as I saw it in Kentucky 
and Tennessee before the war. No doubt it existed 
in these States, particularly in Kentucky, in its 
mildest form. I knew slaveholders who sustained 
this relation for the good of their slaves rather than 
for any personal profit. They were willing to set 
their slaves free if it would improve their condition, 
but on this point they doubted. They did not see 
that the free colored people were any better off than 
the slaves. In addition to this, there was, as the 
result of the Abolition excitement, a law passed in 
Kentucky forbidding emancipation. This was, I 
think, between 1850 and 1860. 

As to the sinfulness of slavery in itself, Southern 
slaveholders did not believe the doctrine. They 
generally held the view expressed by Dr. Richard 
Fuller in his discussion with Dr. Francis Wayland, 
though some thought that view too moderate. Dr. 
Fuller showed very clearly that a distinction was to 
be made between slavery and the abuses of slavery. 
This distinction was certainly recognized in Ken- 
tucky. The law gave the master the right to sepa- 
rate husband and wife, but no master did this with- 
out injury to his reputation ; for it was considered 
an abuse of slavery. There was a class of men 
called by the odious designation, "negro traders," 
but they were not received in the best circle of 
society. They bought slaves, conveyed them far- 
ther South, and sold them to cotton and sugar 
planters. They were an odious class. 

The opinion of slaveholders generally was that 



Slavery in Kentucky and Tennessee. 127 

they were not responsible for the existence of 
slavery, because it was introduced into the country 
before they were born. For its introduction the 
Xorth was as accountable as the South, and the 
South felt that it must adjust itself to the circum- 
stances of the case. There was always an Emanci- 
pation party in Kentucky, and if in making the 
second Constitution in 1799, the sagacious policy of 
Henry Clay had been carried out, the State would 
have been free before the war. 

As to the negroes, I saw among them in the days 
of slavery as pious Christians as I ever saw any- 
where. They attended church, occupied the place 
assigned them in the meeting-house, and partook of 
the Lord's Supper with their white brethren. 

I take pleasure in testifying that slavery in Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, and I was not acquainted with 
it elsewhere, was of the mild type. When I went 
£s"orth nothing surprised me more than to see 
laborers at work in the rain and snow. In such 
weather, slaves in Kentucky and Tennessee would 
have been under shelter. It will astonish some of 
my friends to learn that at the death of my mother 
in 1863, I by the will of my father became a slave- 
holder. In the distribution of the estate a young 
girl was assigned to me. The law did not permit 
me to emancipate her, and the best I could do was 
to hire her out. I paid her the amount for which 
she hired and added to it ten per cent. When 
slavery was abolished I rejoiced in the severance of 
the relation I had sustained to her. I was not a 



128 Beminiscences. 

slave-holder morally, but legally. My children may 
be interested in knowing these facts, and the addi- 
tional fact that my conscience is clear. 

There is hope for the African race in this country. 
Its improvement, since the abolition of slavery, has 
been, all things considered, wonderful. The im- 
provement has not of course been universal, but 
history records no such progress as has been made 
by the race since the war. In proof of this I may 
refer to a volume before me, styled, "The Negro 
Baptist Pulpit," containing sermons of which no 
white preacher need be ashamed. These preachers 
were slaves till the Emancipation Proclamation gave 
them liberty. The elevation to which they have 
risen is "the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in 
our eyes." 



CHAPTEE X1Y. 

Leaving- Murfreesboro — Exposed to Danger in 
Going into Kentucky — Settlement as Pastor 
at Hamilton, Ohio — Death of My Mother — 
Desire to Go West — The End of the War — 
Mr. Lincoln's Assassination. 

I remained in Murfreesboro till General Bragg 
left Chattanooga on his Kentucky expedition, and 
General Buell moved his forces from near Hunts- 
ville, Alabama, to thwart General Bragg' s plans. 
I concluded that by the time two such armies passed 
through Middle Tennessee it would be a desolation, 
and rapid preparation was made for our departure. 

Strange to say, United States' soldiers had some- 
thing to do in making our departure a necessity. 
They began to appropriate the little crop that I had 
raised, and they did this, I have no doubt, without 
official authority ; but, in one sense, it was the same 
to me. But there was official authority at a later 
day. After the battle of Stone River General Rose- 
crans' army occupied Murfreesboro and must have 
fuel. My farm was fenced with valuable cedar rails 
and the soldiers were ordered to take only the top 
rail. They obeyed and took the top rail till there 
was not a rail left. The United States Government 
in compensating me put the rails in the category of 
9 (129) 



130 Reminiscences. 

green cord wood. This was a little business for a 
great nation. How I was to support my family be- 
came a serious question. 

Here I may record some things, a few of which, 
so far as I know, have not been published in any 
"History of the War," and probably will not be 
published, as they are not very creditable to two 
United States' Colonels. 

During the Summer of 1862, two regiments, 9th 
Michigan (Colonel Parkhurst) and 3d Minnesota 
(Colonel Lester), were stationed at Murfreesboro. 
The two regiments were encamped for a time near 
my house ; but it was said the Colonels disagreed 
about something, and one of them removed his reg- 
iment more than a mile from the other. This fact 
was naturally communicated to the Confederate 
General Forrest, who was not far away. He took 
advantage of the circumstances, and, with his- 
"Texas Rangers " and others, dashed into Murfrees- 
boro at day break Sunday morning (the second Sun- 
day in July) and captured the regiment near my 
house. There was some fighting, not a great deal, 
and a few balls struck the house. General Forrest, 
having captured this regiment, moved on the other, 
which surrendered. Now, the fact not creditable to 
the Colonels is this : If their regiments had been 
together, General Forrest could have done nothing, 
for his success grew out of the disagreement of the 
Colonels. Who can tell how many of the disasters 
of the war may be traced to quarrels among officers ? 
This may be considered an episode in my narrative. 



Leaving Murfreesboro. 131 

The last day of August, 1862, we left our home in 
Murfreesboro to occupy it no more. As the Federal 
forces had possession of the railroad to Nashville, it 
was deemed safer for me to go on the train. My 
family went in a barouche in charge of Kev. G. W. 
Welch, a theological student. The horse was well- 
known in and around Murfreesboro and not much 
progress was made on the way before a "halt " was 
called by one of a guerrilla band. He made in- 
quiries of Mr. Welch and finally said, "You are 
not the man I thought you were," and permitted 
him to proceed. My wife heard all that passed, 
and has never had a doubt that the man supposed 
that I, as usual, was driving my horse, and intended 
to capture me. Providence ordered that I should 
be elsewhere. We reached Nashville in safety and 
there Mr. Welch took the stage and I took his place 
in the barouche. I could go by the railroad no 
farther, for Gen. John Morgan had destroyed the 
tunnel near Gallatin. In going by private convey- 
ance to Bowling Green I was exposed to danger of 
which I learned more afterward. I was intrusted 
at Nashville with more than thirty letters from 
officers and soldiers, to be mailed at Bowling Green 
for the North. As we passed along we sometimes 
had a view of men whom we took to be guerrillas, 
and if they had obtained possession of the letters, I 
know not what would have been the consequence ; 
but we were not molested. In passing through 
Franklin, Simpson County, we met our friend Judge 
Hitter, of Glasgow, who was holding Court. Wc 



132 Reminiscences. 

had a short conversation, and to our consternation 
we learned afterward that guerrillas dashed into 
Franklin the next morning, captured the Judge, and 
conveyed him to some unknown place. Surely I 
was mercifully preserved. 

At Bowling Green we met old friends, but none 
of us could feel as in other years, for a pall of 
gloom rested on the country. We tarried a day or 
two and then my wife, under the protection of Mr. 
Welch, proceeded to Barren County to sojourn for a 
time with her only sister, Mrs. Eubank, near Glas- 
gow. My friends said it would not be safe for me 
to go, for General Bragg's army was about passing 
through that county, and it was thought important 
for me to get North of the Ohio River as soon as 
possible. Fortunately for me the railroad to Louis- 
ville was in possession of the United States' forces, 
and I found no difficulty in reaching the city. 
National flags were flying, which cheered a heart 
considerably depressed, for the parting with my 
wife was very sad, and she, to this day, refers to it 
as one of the saddest partings of her life. I saw a 
few friends in Louisville, among whom was Hon. J. 
J. Crittenden, who inquired if I knew anything 
about his son, the Federal General. 

From Louisville I went to Indianapolis and called 
on my friend, Rev. Henry Day, formerly professor 
in Georgetown College, Kentucky. It was arranged 
for me to preach on Sunday, and I did so. During 
the week I visited my cousin, Hon. R. W. Thomp- 
son, of Terre Haute, whom I had not seen from my 



Hon. B. W. Thompson. 133 

boyhood. He is a man of extensive information 
and fascinating in conversation. He told me a 
great many things about Mr. Clay and others, which 
occurred when he was in Congress. He was very 
fluent and words came out of his mouth with such 
graceful volubility that 1 was tempted to ask him if 
he ever lacked a word? His wife said, "I can 
answer, never. ," I have not met with a man of 
more fluent speech, and when years afterward, while 
Secretary of the Navy, he lectured at Chester, 
Pennsylvania, on "Adams, Jackson, and Clay," I 
was confirmed in my impression that no man had 
command of language more forcible, more elegant, 
more beautiful. He yet lives, several years older 
than I. His accomplished wife is dead. 

From Terre Haute I returned to Indianapolis, 
preached the next Sunday, then made my way to 
Cincinnati, where I first saw Mr. Lincoln's prelimi- 
nary Proclamation. From Cincinnati I went to 
Lebanon, a place I had visited years before, and 
where something had been said to me about the 
pastorate of the Baptist church. I then discouraged 
a call, but now I was willing to be called, for above 
all things I wished a quiet place in which to labor, 
and I knew no place more quiet than Lebanon. 
The church was without a pastor, but I was not 
called, because there was some suspicion on the 
part of one or more of the influential members as to 
my views of slavery. From Lebanon I went to 
Hamilton, the county-seat of Butler county, to at- 
tend the meeting of the Little Miami Association. 



134 Reminiscences. 

The brother appointed to preach the introductory 
sermon did not make his appearance, and I was re- 
quested to take his place. This church, too, was 
without a pastor, but I did not suppose that a call 
would be given me. I remember waking the next 
morning before day and bursting into tears, under 
the impression that the Lord had nothing more for 
me to do, and that there was no place for me in his 
vineyard. 

I remained in Hamilton a few days and preached 
several times. It pleased the church to call me to 
the pastorate, and I accepted the call. I have never 
regarded this pastorate as a success. It seems more 
like a parenthesis in my ministry. My predecessor 
left me a legacy of trouble. There were two parties 
in the church, almost equally divided. The differ- 
ence between them involved considerations of great 
delicacy, and it was not advisable for matters to be 
talked about. Many imprudent things had no doubt 
been said privately on both sides, which had given 
mutual offence. The question arose ; How can the 
breach be healed if it will not do to talk about what 
caused it ? The general opinion was that nothing 
could be done. I suggested a plan of settlement, 
and one brother thought that God must have put it 
into my heart, for nothing like it had ever been 
heard of before in the adjustment of church troubles. 
The plan was this : For the church to meet at a cer- 
tain time and for the members to take certain 
designated seats, in doing which it was to be under- 
stood that they retracted everything they had said 



Death of My Mother. 135 

offensive to any brother or sister and asked forgive- 
ness, pledging themselves to hold their peace in 
future as to the matters about which they had 
differed. The plan was a success and I refer to it 
because I had never known anything like it before. 
It was while in Hamilton, that is, on the 2d of 
November, 1863, that I received from my youngest 
brother a startling dispatch, which read, ' ' Mother 
is dangerously ill — come by first train." The mes- 
sage reached me on the morning of the 3d, and in 
less than an hour I started for the home of my 
childhood. What a time for reflection ! The place 
of my destination was three hundred miles distant. 
There was a crowd of passengers most of the way, 
strangers, to whom I could not tell my tale of grief. 
Thought I, how little they know of the sadness of 
my heart, and how little would they care, if they 
did know ! The hours passed slowly away, and the 
revolutions of the rattling wheels were too tardy for 
me. Alas ! what mode of travel is fast enough to 
satisfy the desires of one who wishes to reach a 
dying bed ? At length I had gone as far as I could 
go by railroad, and still I was fifteen miles distant 
from the place then of all places most replete with 
solemn interest to me. Night was coming on and 
I could get no traveling conveyance till morning. 
There was not a moment's hesitation. Thankful to 
God for strength to walk, I went on foot, hoping to 
he in time to hear that voice which had so often 
sounded as music in my ears. For a time hope pre- 
dominated, and then fear, and between the two 



136 Beminiscences. 

there was a short, but a sharp conflict. The conflict 
was soon ended, and suck an end ! ' ' She died yes- 
terday," were the first words that terminated my 
painful suspense. I sat by the motionless form of 
my mother, and looked and looked at her pale face. 
It seemed as if the death-sealed lips would open 
and speak to me as in other days. They did not 
open, and spoke not a word. I never saw my 
mother's countenance more pleasant than it was in 
death. The spirit appeared to have been so joyous 
in making its exit from the body as to leave a placid 
smile on the pale clay. The body lay in serene 
dignity, as if it could well afford to yield to the 
temporary dominion of death and the grave, in 
prospect of a triumphant resurrection. 

I wish I could do justice to the character of my 
mother. She was distinguished for common sense, 
sound judgment, and earnest piety. She was not 
an educated woman in the present acceptation of the 
words, for thorough female education was unknown 
in the days of her youth. But when I remember 
how she, amid the disadvantages incident to a newly 
settled country, exerted herself that her children 
might enjoy privileges which she never enjoyed, no 
language can express my admiration and love for 
her, and my deep sense of obligation to her. 

My mother was a praying woman and enjoyed 
nearness of access to the throne of grace. She 
prayed much and had power with God. I doubt 
not I am receiving blessings to this day in answer 



Desire to Go West. 137 

to her prayers. Truly I can say, in the language of 
Cowper : 

"My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
From loins enthroned and rulers of the earth : 
But higher far my proud pretensions rise. 
The son of parents passed into the skies." 

Becoming convinced that Hamilton ought not to 
be my permanent residence, I was anxious to go 
West, and hoped to be called to the pastorate of a 
church in a flourishing town in Illinois. But I was 
disappointed and the disappointment was clearly 
providential. I therefore remained at Hamilton till 
the latter part of the year 1865. It was in April of 
this year that the war ended in the surrender of 
General Lee at Appomattox. It was arranged for 
the surrender to be celebrated at Hamilton, and I 
will be excused for saying that this was the only 
time in my life when I gave a dollar to be used in 
buying powder to be used in firing cannon. I was 
jubilant in view of the fact that the "old flag" was 
to wave in triumph over an undivided people. 

I sympathized with General Lee in the humilia- 
tion of his surrender, but my joy very nearly ex- 
tinguished my sympathy. In the beginning of the 
civil conflict General Lee had written to his sister, 
"I recognize no necessity for this state of things ; " 
yet his views of the pernicious doctrine of " States' 
Rights*' led him to renounce his allegiance to the 
L T nited States and identify himself with the Confed- 
eracy. If he had accepted the supreme command 



138 Reminiscences. 

of the Army of the United States, offered him. by 
Mr. Lincoln, in how different a light would his 
name appear on the page of history ! In that case, 
General Grant would scarcely have been heard of, 
and General Lee would have been the favorite and 
the President of the nation. His name would have 
gone down to posterity in honorable conjunction 
with that of Washington. But he made a fatal 
mistake and General Grant reaped the honors of the 
war. What strange things affect the destinies of 
men ! General Grant, in his tour round the world, 
received from more nations greater honors than 
were ever conferred on any other man from Adam 
to this day. 

Not long after General Lee's surrender, an event 
occurred which threw the nation, and indeed the 
civilized world, into consternation. Mr. Lincoln was 
assassinated at Washington on the 14th of April. 
The fatal shot was fired by J. Wilkes Booth, of 
whom it is best to say nothing more. 

During his Presidency a thousand things were 
said by his enemies in disparagement, and even in 
ridicule, of Mr. Lincoln, but he was a great man 
with a heart full of kindness. No one could more 
truly than he use the words which have become im- 
mortal : "With malice toward none, with charity 
for all. 11 His name will go down to posterity 
clothed with glory, historians will record what he 
did, and the millions of the African race in the 
United States will thank God that he lived. 



CHAPTEK XT. 

Removal to Upland, Pennsylvania — The Crozer 
Family — The Theological Seminary — Meeting 
House Enlarged — Great Revival. 

As intimated in the preceding chapter, my desire 
and purpose to go West were not carried into effect. 
I therefore directed my attention to the East, hop- 
ing there to find a suitable field of labor. This led 
me to attend the Philadelphia Association, which 
met October, 1865, with the Fifth Church on Eight- 
eenth and Spring Garden Streets. 

At that time Rev. William Wilder had resigned 
the pastorate of the Upland Baptist Church, which 
he had filled for eleven years, and Dr. Griffith 
arranged for pulpit supplies. He invited me to 
preach and I did so on the first Sunday in October, 
attending the Association during the week. On the 
second Sunday I preached in Camden, New Jersey, 
and on the third, at Upland again. The church, at 
the evening service, was requested to remain after 
the congregation was dismissed. I of course did 
not remain, though I did not know what business 
would come before the church. That night, as I re- 
tired, the venerable John P. Crozer put a letter in 
my hands informing me that I had been called to 
the pastorate. I remember well kneeling down and 

(139) 



140 Beminiscences. 

thanking God that in His gracious providence He had 
indicated that there was still work for me to do. 
As there was something peculiar about this call, I 
may explain. Mr. Crozer was not in favor of elect- 
ing a pastor at that time, but wished to wait till his 
eldest son, Samuel A., reached home from Europe ; 
for he, next to his father, was the most influential 
member of the church. Mrs. Crozer said to her 
husband (this she told me years after) that it would 
be necessary to act at once if my services were 
secured. Her favorable opinion of my preaching 
led her to believe that some other church would give 
me a call, and that with the Upland Church it was 
now or never. She carried her point with her hus- 
band, and thus I was indirectly indebted to her for 
the eighteen happy years of my pastorate at 
Upland. My opinion of Mrs. Sallie L. Crozer I 
need not here express ; for in the dedication of my 
" Christian Doctrines " to her, I have told the pub- 
lic the estimation in which she was held by me. 
Her husband, John P. Crozer, was a remarkable 
man. He had risen from comparative obscurity 
and poverty to prominence and wealth. He had 
great energy and was the architect of his own for- 
tune. His life, as written by J. Wheaton Smith, 
D. D., shows what he was from his boyhood till his 
death. At fourteen years of age he heard a funeral 
sermon, preached by the celebrated Dr. William 
Staughton, and was led to see himself a sinner in 
need of salvation. After his conversion he united 
with the Marcus Hook Baptist Church, of which he 



The Crozer Family. 141 

remained a member till the Upland Church was con- 
stituted in 1852. A house of worship was indis- 
pensable and one was built at his expense and 
afterward enlarged. He was very successful in his 
business, which was the manufacture of "cotton 
goods,' ' and he early learned to give as the Lord 
prospered him. His contributions for Missions, 
Education, the American Baptist Publication Society 
and kindred benevolent objects were large, and his 
hospitality knew no limit. He was Superintendent 
of the Sunday-school, filled his place in the prayer- 
meeting, and was in the sanctuary on the Lord's 
day. It is a fact worthy of notice that he and his 
gardener, Mr. John Pretty, were for years the only 
deacons of the church. They acted in harmony, 
and their last interview, when Mr. Crozer was on 
his dying bed, was very affecting. Mr. Pretty often 
spoke of it with deep feeling. 

Mr. Crozer lived but a few months after I first 
knew him in 1865, for he died in March, 1866. 
His death created a deep sensation, not only in 
Upland, but in Philadelphia and the surrounding 
country. The general feeling was that a benefactor 
of his race had been taken away. His funeral was 
largely attended and was very solemn and impres- 
sive. It devolved on me to preach the sermon, and 
the text was II Timothy iv : 7, 8 : "I have fought 
a good fight, I have finished my course ; I have 
kept the faith : Henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day : and not 



142 Reminiscences. 

to me only, but unto all them also that love His ap- 
pearing. ' ' Appropriate remarks were made by 
Bishop Lee, of Delaware, and Dr. J. Wheaton 
Smith, of Philadelphia. The body was buried in 
the Upland Cemetery to await the resurrection of 
the last day. 

Mr. Crozer, at his death, left seven children, four 
sons and three daughters. The names of the sons 
who still live (1891) are Samuel A., J. Lewis, 
George K. and Robert H. His daughters were 
Margaret (Mrs. Bucknell), Elizabeth (Mrs. Griffith) 
and Emma, who afterward became Mrs. Gustavus 
W. Knowles. Mrs. Bucknell died a few years after 
her father and was buried near him. The children 
now living are worthy representatives of their father 
and mother, and though the inheritors of wealth, it 
is to be said to their credit that they never assume 
airs which some rich people take on themselves. 
They do not boast of their wealth, but they use it 
to promote benevolent objects. This reminds me 
that after Mr. Crozer 1 s death, his family, by a dona- 
tion af fifty thousand dollars to the American 
Baptist Publication Society, established what is 
called "The Crozer Memorial Fund," in honor of 
the husband and father. The interest on this fund 
is used year by year to promote the religious welfare 
of the colored people of the South, and the good it 
is doing will not be fully known till it is disclosed 
by the revelations of eternity. 

In the year 1868 "Crozer Theological Seminary" 
was established. The large building which it 



Crozer Theological Institute. 143 

occupies had been put up by Mr. Crozer for school 
purposes, but for some reason those purposes had 
not been satisfactorily carried out. The best thing 
to do with the structure was not determined on till 
there was a family consultation. Then it was decided 
to make the building the seat of a theological school. 
To endow it Mrs. Crozer and her seven children 
gave twenty-five thousand dollars each, and Mr. 
Bucknell added twenty-five thousand dollars. This 
endowment was ample at the beginning, for the 
faculty consisted of only three instructors, Henry 
G. Weston, D.D., President, and Drs. Howard 
Osgood and G. D. B. Pepper, Professors. In the 
course of human events changes have taken place, 
and Dr. Weston is the only man who has been 
identified continuously with the institution till now 
(1891). The faculty has been enlarged, so that it 
now consists of the President, George R. Bliss, J. 
C. Long, E. H. Johnson, J. M. Stifler, B. C. Tay- 
lor and M. G. Evans. Something has been added 
to the original endowment, but it needs to be aug- 
mented, and I have reason to know that this will be 
done while some cf its founders live, or when their 
wills are executed. 

As I have been for a number of years one of the 
Trustees of the Seminary, it would not be in good 
taste for me to be profuse in its praise. I may say, 
however, that it has done, and is still doing a good 
work. The members of the faculty are men of 
God, sound in faith, and apt to teach. The number 
of students is increasing year by year, and many of 



144 Reminiscences. 

its graduates are filling important places in this 
country and some are Missionaries in Foreign lands. 
The Crozer Seminary is in friendly relations with 
other Seminaries, and while it does not ask to be 
compared with them, it does not recoil from a com- 
parison. Its motto is onward, upward ; onward to 
larger attainments in the knowledge of the Bible ; 
upward to brighter heights in spirituality. 

The location of the Seminary is all that can be 
desired, fourteen miles from Philadelphia, one mile 
from Chester, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. 
Thus it escapes the severity of Northern winters 
and the enervating effects of Southern climes. 

In the year 1873 it became necessary to enlarge 
the meeting-house in Upland, and an addition of 
thirty feet was made to it at an expense of fourteen 
thousand dollars. A new baptistery was constructed 
and everything was made attractive. It was grati- 
fying to see that the house, though enlarged, was 
not too large for the congregation. By the end of 
the year there was an increase of interest in the ser- 
vices of the sanctuary, and early in the year 1874, 
there were promising indications of a revival. These 
indications were first seen in cottage prayer-meet- 
ings held in different parts of the village. The 
spirit of prayer came upon the church, parents be- 
came interested for the conversion of their children, 
and meetings were commenced in the Sunday-school 
chapel. These meetings were held every night of 
the week except Saturday night and continued about 
two months. They were chiefly devoted to prayer 



Great Revival. 145 

and exhortation, and a few sermons only were 
preached, though there was regular preaching on 
the Lord's day. Soon many were inquiring, "What 
must we do to be saved? " They were the old, the 
middle-aged, and the young. They were convicted 
of sin, they felt their lost condition, and earnestly 
cried to God for mercy. It was not long before 
anxious inquirers became rejoicing converts, telling 
what the Lord had done for their souls. Thus the 
meeting went on for weeks, and wintry weather, at 
times severe, did not keep the people away. An 
opportunity was given each week for persons who 
had found peace with God to unite with the church. 
Old-fashioned "experiences" of the grace of God 
were related, and some of them were very affecting. 
The ordinance of baptism was administered nine 
consecutive Sunday nights, and the additions to the 
church were about two hundred. In my long life I 
have never seen a revival equal to this. I do not 
claim that I had any special agency in it. My 
preaching was as it had been for years, though more 
earnest. The same gospel was preached. The 
revival was God's work, in answer to the prayers of 
brethren and sisters. It is prayer that brings down 
the blessing of heaven. The keynote of the meet- 
ing was, perhaps, struck in the beginning by the 
pastor's remarks on the words of Jesus, "Father, 
glorify Thy name." The glory of God was referred 
to as the supremely important thing to be aimed at 
during the meeting, and the salvation of souls was to 
be sought as promotive of that glory. I never saw 
10 



146 Reminiscences. 

church members more forgetful of everything not 
immediately connected with the glory of God. Of 
the number baptized a hundred and twenty were 
over twenty years old, eighty were thirty years of 
age, twenty-five over forty, twelve over fifty, nine 
above sixty, and two above seventy. The remainder 
were between ten and twenty years old with the ex- 
ception of one who was nine. Twenty-five husbands 
and wives were baptized, twelve husbands whose 
wives were members before, and six wives whose 
husbands were members before. I have never 
heard of a revival in which so large a proportion of 
the converts were over twenty years of age. 

This meeting modified my views as to what are 
called "Protracted Meetings'' and "Evangelists." 
I think there should never be a "protracted meet- 
ing'' until there is a spiritual interest in a church 
and congregation, that calls for it. To appoint such 
a meeting "in cold blood," as the saying is, cannot 
be justified. I may say also, that where a church 
has regular preaching every Sunday, and prayer- 
meeting during the week, a protracted meeting is 
unnecessary. Nor has such a church need of the 
labors of an "evangelist." It is better to look for 
the blessing of God on the ordinary means of grace. 
As to "evangelists," it is their special business to 
labor where there are no churches, with a view to 
build up churches. This seems to be forgotten by 
most of them. 

Though I shall refer to Upland church again, I 
may take occasion here to say that it has an honor- 



Upland's Liberality. 147 

able history. During my connection with it there 
went forth two colonies which became churches, 
namely, South Chester and Village Green. At an 
earlier date it furnished constituent members for the 
First Church, Chester, which sent out as her daughter, 
Xorth Chester Church, so that the latter is the 
grand- daughter of Upland. All this is an honor 
not to be despised. 

Upland's liberality is known far and near. It is 
impossible to ascertain certainly what sums of money 
the Crozers give away, for they do not tell. For 
the first ten years of my pastorate I tried to find out 
the amount of their pecuniary gifts, but I made only 
an approximate estimate. I decided that they gave 
a hundred thousand dollars a year, making a million 
for the ten years. It is a great thing to have money • 
to give, but, as I once heard Mr. Samuel Crozer 
say. ic It is a greater thing to have the disposition 
to give it." 



CHAPTEE XYI. 

Baptist Publication Society — Ministers' Confer- 
ence — Fifty Years in the Ministry — Author- 
ship — Death of President Garfield and Ex- 
President Grant. 

When I went to Upland in 1865 the American 
Baptist Publication Society was not what it is now. 
Its headquarters were at 530 Arch Street, Phila- 
delphia, and it was plain enough that there was not 
sufficient room for the convenient transaction of the 
business of the Society. No one was more fully 
convinced of this than Dr. Griffith, the Secretary of 
the Society. He therefore began to agitate the 
question of a new building. He was the man who 
engineered the whole matter, and in doing so was 
fortunate in availing himself of the pecuniary liber- 
ality of the Crozers and of Mr. William Bucknell. 
Without their aid it is evident that there would have 
been no new building. Dr. Griffith's connection by 
marriage with the Crozer family has been an inesti- 
mable blessing to the Publication Society. The 
site selected for the new edifice is 1420 Chestnut 
Street, and the structure extends from Chestnut to 
Sansom Street. It is worthy of the important ob- 
jects of the Society. I was placed on the Board of 
Managers, and for about eighteen years rendered 

(118) 



Baptist Publication Society. 149 

some service, chiefly on the Committee of Publica- 
tion. This Committee had a laborious work to per- 
form in the examination and recommendation of 
manuscripts. The plan was for a manuscript to be 
referred to two members of the Committee, and if 
reported on favorably it was ordered to be published ; 
if not, it was declined. If the two members differed 
in opinion the manuscript was given to a third 
brother, whose opinion decided the matter. 

I think I can safely say that I read ten thousand 
pages of manuscript, and I often wished that some 
persons could write more legibly. The Publication 
Society has done, and is doing a great work in the 
publication of books and Sunday-school literature. 
Its issues embrace a Commentary on the whole New 
Testament and the tiny leaflet, with all intermediate 
publications. Baptists may well thank God for the 
operations of the Society. Their principles are ably 
discussed and advocated. 

' ' The Baptist Ministers 1 Conference, ' ' of Philadel- 
phia and vicinity is an important and interesting 
organization. It meets every Monday, and minis- 
ters fatigued by the labors of Sunday enjoy rest and 
recreation. Some brother is appointed beforehand 
to prepare and read an essay, which becomes the 
subject of discussion and criticism. The essays are 
generally good and the discussions edifying. Some- 
times the themes written on are not very suitable 
and excite but little interest. Still the Conference 
is the means of doing much good in bringing to 
light views which are discussed in a fraternal spirit. 



150 Reminiscences. 

Dr. Wayland, the editor of the National Baptist, is 
generally present and gives in his paper a synopsis 
of what is said, though he does not report the wit 
with which he often enlivens discussions. 

At the expiration of my "Fifty Years in the 
Ministry," ' the conference was pleased to request me 
to prepare an essay on the subject. This I did, and 
read it November 21, 1881. It was a day of solemn 
interest to me, and the brethren said some very kind 
things. I copy, for the satisfaction of my children, 
the following : 

' ; P. S. Henson, D.D., said : I have witnessed many scenes 
of interest in this room, but none so august as that we 
have just witnessed. I have felt as though we were look- 
ing on the face of Moses as he came down from the mount. 

' ; I have heard it said that reverence for age and wisdom 
is decaying among us. I am glad that the spectacle of to-day 
puts the brand of falsehood on that libel. When I see the 
tribute paid to our brother, I say, ' There is hope for us, if 
we keep our hearts young, as he has done.' For myself, 
while I touch my hat to the young lieutenant in the ministry 
I take off my hat and bow in reverence to the Captain of the 
Lord's host, who has served for three score years and ten. 
I offer the following : 

"Resolved, That the Conference has listened with the 
deepest interest and pleasure to the review of ' Fifty Years 
in the Gospel Ministry,' which our honored brother and 
father, J. M. Pendleton, D.D., has read at the invitation of 
the Conference, a paper marked alike by wisdom, ripened 
experience, and good taste : we thank God who has granted 
to our brother the distinguishing privilege of preaching 
Christ for half a century, and who has crowned his labors 
with a rich blessing to the Church of Christ ; it is our earn- 
est prayer that the Lord will be pleased long to spare to us 
his counsels, his prayers, and his example of matured piety 
and unswerving patriotism, and that the evening of a day 



Fifty Years in the Ministry. 151 

so full of beneficent labor may be made bright and glorious 
by the softened effulgence of the Sun of Righteousness." 

The Minutes state that "The resolution was 
adopted by a unanimous rising vote." 

I may add that I would be much less than a 
Christian man and minister not to appreciate these 
kind sentiments of brethren with whom I had met 
for many years. May the blessings they invoked 
on me fall richly on their own souls. 

My children and grand-children will also read with 
interest the following letter from President Ander- 
son : 

"Rochester. December 1, 1881. 
"My Dear Brother :— I have just read with the great- 
est interest your paper reviewing your life as a pastor and 
teacher. I beg leave to congratulate you on this protracted 
and efficient service rendered to Christ and His people. The 
difficulties which you have overcome in your long career 
have given you a vigor of mind and character, which has 
made you respected by the entire Baptist denomination in 
the United States. Your fidelity to our Union in the time 
which so tried the souls of loyal men in the South, is worthy 
of remembrance for all time. Your fidelity to your convic- 
tions, whether moral, religious, or political, has won for you 
the prof oundest respect wherever you are known. It mat- 
ters little what I think of your honorable career ; but I 
have felt an impulse which I could not restrain to write as I 
have ; and I pray God to give you still many years of life to 
defend Christian truth by your voice and pen, and to illus- 
trate it by your example. Very truly yours, 

"M. B. Anderson." 

What I read in my "Fifty Years in the Ministry " 
was copied by several papers, and I have made ex- 



152 Reminiscences. 

tracts from it in other portions of these Reminis- 
cences. 

It was 'while I lived at Upland that I became 
more of an author than I ever expected to be. My 
first book, as I have said elsewhere, was written at 
Bowling Green, Ky., and bore the title, "Three 
Reasons Why I Am a Baptist." In 1868 I wrote 
my " Church Manual " which bears the imprint of 
the Publication Society. It is of course gratifying 
to me that it has attained a circulation of more than 
thirty thousand copies, and that it has been trans- 
lated into the German language. My best and most 
important book, as I think, was published in 1878. 
Its title is, "Christian Doctrines," containing a 
"Compendium of Theology." There is something 
singular as to the origin of this book. I was urged 
by Dr. Howard Osgood to write it, and he was 
almost the only person who encouraged me to un- 
dertake it. He was pleased to say that I had 
command of a clear, simple style, easily understood, 
and that I could make many Bible truths plainer 
than they are sometimes made by theological 
writers. I wished to write a book suitable to the 
comprehension of colored ministers in the South, 
and at the same time acceptable to other classes of 
readers. I knew that simplicity of style, while im- 
portant for colored ministers, would be no objection 
with white ministers. 

I supplied myself with materials for my task and 
attempted to arrange chapters and a table of con- 
tents. I was utterly unable to do this and gave up 



Authorship. 153 

the matter for a whole year. Then I undertook it 
again, and the result is before the public. When 
the book made its appearance I asked Dr. Griffith 
what he would consider "a success." He said, "If 
there are a thousand copies sold within a year, that 
will be a success ; and if two thousand are sold in 
all time that will be a success." Not a year ago he 
told me that he would have discouraged the publica- 
tion if I had not been his pastor. In view of all 
this I need not say that it is specially gratifying to 
me that the circulation of the volume has reached 
about eleven thousand copies, and that it is used as 
a text-book in most of the colored Theological Insti- 
tutes of the South. Nor is this all ; for I have 
reason to know that Doctors of Divinity, when they 
wish to refresh their memories on theological topics, 
and have not time to examine larger works, are 
accustomed to refer to "Christian Doctrines." The 
smallness of the volume, in connection, I trust, with 
its merits, has had something to do in making it 
acceptable. 

In the year 1881 Dr. John W. Ross, of the 
United States Navy, informed me that his father, 
James Ross, recently dead, had left a manuscript 
styled, "Life and Times of Elder Reuben Ross." 
His descendants were anxious for its publication, 
and the Doctor said it would never be done unless 
I would consent to edit it and see it through the 
press. I hesitated to assume the task, for I knew 
something of the labor it would impose on me, but 
at last I consented. The book was published in 



154 Reminiscences. 

1882, fifteen hundred copies, but the sales were 
slow. It was expected that it would be in great 
demand in certain parts of Tennessee and Kentucky, 
where Elder Ross had been well known. This ex- 
pectation was not met. He had been dead more 
than twenty years, and a generation had risen up 
that "knew not Joseph." When the book had 
about ceased to sell, Dr. Ross authorized me to 
dispose of the copies remaining (about one-half) as 
I thought best. I gave them away to institutions 
and to individuals. I sent quite a number of copies 
by mail to Maine and Oregon and intervening 
States. Though my labor was all gratuitous, I am 
gratified to know that I have had something to do 
in sending the name of a good and great man down 
to posterity. The memory of Elder Eeuben Ross 
is blessed. 

Another book which I published is styled "Dis- 
tinctive Principles of Baptists,' ' which is, as I have 
said, an enlargement of my first book, "Three 
Reasons Why I Am a Baptist. 1 ' The object of this 
work is to show wherein Baptists differ from other 
religious denominations and to demonstrate that 
their principles are identical with those of the New 
Testament. This book has not had so large a circu- 
lation as I expected, but I have the satisfaction of 
knowing that it has been translated into the Swedish 
language and is useful in the propagation of Baptist 
principles among the Swedes. No one can tell how 
much good may result from the circulation of one 
book. 



Authorship. 155 

In the year 1883 George W. Clark, D. D., of 
New Jersey, and myself were appointed to write 
"Brief Notes on the New Testament." The 
arrangement was for Dr. Clark to furnish Notes on 
the Gospels, and for me to write on the remaining 
portion of the New Testament. We did our work, 
and the volume published, the cheapest of the 
Society, has had a satisfactory circulation. The 
object of Dr. Clark and myself has been to furnish, 
in small compass, the results of our studies on the 
New Testament, and we hope our labors will do 
good while we live and after we are dead. 

In the Winter of 1884-' 85 I wrote a book on 
' ' The Atonement of Christ, ' ' which I of course 
think presents that subject in its proper light. It 
treats of the "Nature," "Necessity," "Value," 
"Extent," and "Kesults" of the Atonement, with 
"Concluding Addresses to Ministers of the Gospel, 
to Christians, to Awakened Sinners, and to Impeni- 
tent Sinners." The New York Examiner, in 
noticing this volume, has been pleased to say that 
there is no better book of its size on this great sub- 
ject. Its circulation is not what it should be. 

In 1886 the Publication Society issued my last 
book, entitled, "Notes of Sermons," which I wrote 
with a view chiefly to aid young preachers in the 
construction and arrangement of their discourses. 
Kind friends are of opinion that the themes dis- 
cussed are naturally deduced from the texts, and 
that the language used is full of simplicity, so that 
everybody can understand it. 



156 Beminiscences. 

I have now referred to all that I have done in the 
line of authorship. In my early life nothing was 
farther from my thoughts than that I should ever 
write a book. I do not now see how I could ever 
have attempted it but for my large experience in 
writing for newspapers. I trust it is not vanity that 
makes me hope that some persons, while I live, and 
others, after I die, will thank God that I employed 
my pen. 

During the period reviewed in this chapter two 
important and solemn events occurred, namely, the 
death of President Garfield and that of Ex-President 
Grant. The former was shot in July, 1881, by a 
disappointed office-seeker, who had a badly balanced 
mind, and who said that his name would go ' ' thun- 
dering down to posterity." I choose not to men- 
tion his name. 

President Garfield was an able statesman, and 
began his Presidency under favorable auspices. 
What would have been the results of his adminis- 
tration, had he lived, it is impossible to say. His 
death shrouded the nation in gloom and called forth 
many expressions of sorrow. 

In August, 1885, General Grant died, beloved by 
his friends and admired by his political enemies. 
His name and deeds will fill a large space on the 
pages of history. I have referred to him in another 
place. 

The names, Lincoln, Garfield, and Grant, remind 
us that in the United States of America, citizens 
may rise from obscurity and poverty to the most 



Lincoln, Garfield, Grant. 157 

exalted station. This fact exhausts encomium on 
our Republican form of government, showing that 
there is no barrier in the way of eligibility to the 
highest office. 



CHAPTEK XYII. 

Mes. John P. Crozer's Death — Resignation of 
Pastorate — Last Sermon — Winter of 1883 
and 1884 in Nashville, Tennessee — Wife's 
Blindness. 

In August, 1882, Upland was made sad by 
the death of Mrs. John P. Crozer, who, as she 
was born in the year 1800, had reached her 
four score years. She was a remarkable woman, 
with sound judgment and a large measure of good 
sense. In all the relations of life she acted well 
her part. As a wife her devotion to her husband 
was beautiful, and he felt her influence in amassing 
his fortune. He ever consulted her as his safest 
counselor. As a mother she was loving and 
judicious in training her children, and they thought 
no other mother equal to her. They were devoted 
to her while she lived, and her death intensified 
their reverence for her character. Their memories 
have a fond place for her. As a neighbor she was 
kind, and gave many proofs of her thoughtful con- 
sideration. She was dignified and ladylike in her 
manners, commanding the respect of all who knew 
her. Her Christian character was lovely in youth, 
in middle age, and supremely lovely in her old age. 
For many years she taught the large infant class in 

(158) 



Mrs. Crozer's Death. 159 

the Upland Sunday-school, and "even down to old 
age " she was present at the prayer-meetings and at 
the public services on the Lord's day. During the 
years of her widowhood she gave thousands and tens 
of thousands of dollars to benevolent objects. I 
have known no woman her equal in pecuniary 
liberality. 

Mrs. Croxer's death was preceded by protracted 
and painful disease, but her mind was clear and 
peaceful. I saw her not long before her death ; it 
was Sunday morning, and I repeated the text I was 
going to preach from, "These things I have spoken 
unto you, that in Me ye might have peace." (John 
xvi : 33.) She added, "I have that peace," and 
these words are on her tombstone. Her funeral 
was largely attended on a beautiful Saturday after- 
noon ; remarks were made by Dr. Bliss and others, 
and the sermon by the pastor the next day was com- 
memorative of her life and character. It was from 
Rev. xiv : 13: "Blessed are the dead who die in 
the Lord," etc. 

I gratefully recognize my obligations to Mrs. 
Crozer, for she had much to do in making my 
Upland pastorate of eighteen years a pleasure and 
a joy. Her long life, full of good deeds, is ended, 
and she rests by her loved one. Being for many 
years united in the busy activities of life, they now 
have the silent companionship of the grave. This 
concerns their bodies only, and we think of their 
spirits as among "the spirits of just men made 
perfect." 



160 Reminiscences. 

In the month of June, 1883, I resigned my pas- 
torate. I knew that judicious ministers had ex- 
pressed the opinion that a man should not he pastor 
after reaching seventy years of age. I had tran- 
scended the limit by nearly two years, but I feel 
no special regret that my resignation did not bear 
an earlier date, in view of the fact that, after I had 
reached my "three score years and ten," there was 
a quiet revival, in which I baptized more than forty 
persons. 

The following is my letter of resignation : 

To the Upland Baptist Church: 

Dear Brethren and Sisters — I now have to perform one of 
the most painful duties of my life. I have more than reached 
my ''three score years and ten," and the weakness of old age 
is coming- on me. You need as a pastor a man of greater 
physical, mental and spiritual vigor, and I therefore resign 
my pastorate, the resignation to take effect the last of Octo- 
ber. I fix on this rather remote date that you may have 
ample time to select my successor, and that I may complete 
eighteen years of service among you. I ask that my resig- 
nation be quietly accepted, and that no "resolutions" be 
passed. I know that your kind feelings for me will not permit 
you to vote resolutions of censure, and I have done nothing 
which calls for resolutions of commendation. I leave you as 
I came among you, nothing but a poor sinner, ' ' saved by 
grace." I trust you will cast the mantle of your charity 
over the many imperfections you have seen in me, and if 
my ministry has been a blessing to any of you, to God be- 
longs the glory. 

I have received uniform kindness at your hands, and if 
any one of you has done or said anything with a view to 
hurt my feelings, I have never known it. 

Whatever becomes of me in the short space of life that 
remains to me, I shall ever rejoice in your prosperity, and 
my prayer is that God will give you in my successor a better 



Resignation of Pastorate. 161 

man. a better Christian, a better minister. My dear 
brethren and sisters, the Lord abundantly bless you. and 
grant you the consolations of that gospel which, for nearly 
a score of years, I have preached to you. As your names 
come into mind tears come into my eyes, and you will please 
think of these tears as proofs of a love which words cannot 
express. Most affectionately yours in the Lord. 

J. M. Pexdletox. 

The resignation was accepted, and in spite of my 
request that it should not be so, commendatory reso- 
lutions were adopted. 

The months passed away, and the fourth Sunday 
in October came. What a day was that ! — a day of 
sadness and sorrow to my heart. I number it with 
the days when 1 saw my father and my mother 
buried, and heard of the death of my first-born son. 
Ties were to be broken that touched the nerve of 
the heart. It was painful to leave the friends of my 
love, but I say without hesitation that the supreme 
sorrow of that day grew out of the fact that I was 
closing my work in the ministry of the gospel. I 
knew that in future I could only expect to preach 
occasionally ; for not many congregations are will- 
ing to hear an old man. I was therefore obliged to 
consider my work of preaching virtually done. 
This thought with its excruciating power agitated 
my soul. Language was not invented to express 
the feelings of my heart on that day of sorrow. Ko 
miser ever loved his gold more than I have loved 
my work of preaching. This love has not wavered 
for more than half a century. I have not seen the 
day during that time when, if the option had been 
11 



162 Reminiscences. 

given me to go over life again, I would have chosen 
any other calling but that of a minister of God. I 
think I have proved my love for my work. For the 
first twenty-five years of my ministry my salary 
ranged from two hundred to six hundred and fifty 
dollars, and often I had to study, as hard as I studied 
theology, how to meet my pecuniary obligations, 
knowing that nothing but positive immorality more 
cripples a minister's usefulness than debt. I 
preached regularly during those twenty-five years 
when my support was a scanty one ; I have preached 
since when my support has been ample ; and I 
preached during the war with no prospect of sup- 
port. The greater part of my ministerial life, my 
salary did not enable me to educate a child or to 
bury a child, though I did both in another way. I 
mention these things to emphasize my love of the 
work of preaching the gospel of the grace of God. 

In view of all this, it is not strange that my heart 
was crushed with sorrow when I preached for the last 
time as pastor at Upland. It seemed that the bur- 
den resting on me would sink me into the earth. 
But I remembered the words, " Cast thy burden on 
the Lord, and He shall sustain thee." (Psalm lv : 
22.) I think I have often proved the truth of the 
declaration, "He shall sustain thee." It is not 
said what will become of the burden, and this is a 
matter of little consequence, while it is said, "He 
shall sustain thee." 

I survived the day of sorrow and the next day 
departed, bearing with me the generous gifts of the 



Winter of 18S3-S4 in Nashville, Tennessee. 163 

Crozer family, to whom I shall ever feel my indebt- 
edness. My wife and I, with sad hearts, left dear 
Upland for Nashville, Tennessee, to spend the ap- 
proaching Winter with our son-in-law, Rev. James 
Waters. After reaching there, one of the first 
things I did was to baptize three of my grand- 
daughters into the fellowship of the Edgefield 
Baptist Church, of which Rev. Wm. Henry Strick- 
land was then pastor. The ordinance was adminis- 
tered in the presence of a large and deeply 
interested congregation. I remember well my feel- 
ings in saying to the eldest of the three, ** My 
grand-daughter in the flesh, but my sister in the 
Lord, I baptize thee," etc. Not often does a grand- 
father enjoy such a privilege as this. I spent the 
winter chiefly in writing my ' ' Brief Notes on the 
New Testament," and finished them March 4, 1884. 
As I began the work on the patriotic 4th of July, 
I completed it in precisely eight months. As my 
health was feeble, and as I had heard of the death 
of several brethren in Philadelphia, I began to fear 
that I might die leaving my task unfinished. I 
therefore wrote with great industry and energy, even 
to the disadvantage of my health. 

There was another sorrow before me. My wife's 
eyes were failing, and it was necessary to see an 
optician who, we had no doubt, could furnish suita- 
ble glasses. The optician advised that an oculist 
be consulted, and to our dismay he, on examination, 
said that there was a cataract on each eye. The in- 
formation penetrated the depths of our hearts and 



164 Reminiscences. 

excited the deepest grief. My wife soon became 
tranquil and expressed her gratitude to God that the 
affliction had not come on her during my pastorate. 
Having been a Sunday-school teacher for more than 
fifty years, she took a class in the Edgefield school 
and taught for some weeks before the class knew 
she was blind. Her way of preparation was to have 
one of her grand-daughters, Lila Belle, read over 
the lessons to her, and then she was competent to 
teach. What woman of a thousand would, in these 
circumstances, have persevered in attending a Sun- 
day-school ? I record this fact to her credit and for 
the gratification of her children and grand-children. 
In 1885 we made a visit to Professor Irby and 
family in Jackson, Tennessee. Dr. Savage, now of 
Yanderbilt University, was recommended to us as 
an accomplished oculist. He removed the cataract 
from the left eye, thinking that the more hopeful of 
the two. He was very skilful, and everything 
seemed to be going on well, but inflammation set in 
and the eye was lost. We have never attached the 
least blame to Dr. Savage. In 1888 we were 
advised to engage Dr. Risley, of the Pennsylvania 
University, to remove the cataract from the other 
eye. He did so and pronounced the healing process 
"perfect." The eye appeared as natural as ever, 
but the sight did not return. There is only a glim- 
mer of light which makes a little difference between 
day and night, but does not avail to the recognition 
of the face of the dearest friend. The Doctor 
thinks there is some weakness in the eye, the cause 



Wife's Blindness. 165 

of which cannot be found out. Thus hope is gone, 
and she who once gazed with delight on the works 
of nature and of art will never see them again. In 
this dark providence we find the only recipe for 
comfort in the words of Jesus : "Even so, Father ; 
for so it seemed good in thy sight.* 1 

The wise man said, and the foolish man knows it, 
"Truly light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for 
the eyes to behold the sun." No one enjoys the 
pleasures of vision more than would my wife, if it 
were the Lord's will, but I have heard from her no 
murmuring word on account of the deprivation she 
suffers. Her spiritual vision seems more distinct 
and clear, and I trust that ' ' beholding as in a mir- 
ror the glory of the Lord, she will be changed into 
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord." 

It w T ould be an unpardonable omission in these 
Reminiscences if I did not record my high apprecia- 
tion of my wife. She has been more than all the 
world to me. In times of prosperity and times of 
adversity, in days of joy and days of sorrow, I have 
ever heard her voice encouraging and blessing me. 
We have trodden together the path of life for more 
than half a century, and I trust that we shall walk 
the streets of the New Jerusalem together. 

I shall have more to say of her when I refer to 
our ' ' Golden Wedding. ' ' 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

Austin, Texas — State House — Monterey — Jubilee 
of the General Association of Kentucky — 
Golden Weddino. 

The Winter of 1884-85 I spent in Austin, Texas, 
and while there wrote my book on "The Atonement 
of Christ." The time passed pleasantly, for I was 
in the family of my son-in-law, Prof. Leslie Wag- 
gener. He and his wife did everything necessary 
to the comfort of my wife and myself ; and their 
seven children contributed not a little to our 
pleasure. 

Austin, the capital of the State, is a beautiful 
place of fifteen thousand inhabitants, on the Colo- 
rado River. It does not appear to advantage from 
every point ; but when I went into the University 
building and, from the third story, took in all the 
surroundings, I pronounced it the most beautiful 
city I ever saw, nor have I changed my opinion. It 
will be gratifying to some for me to say that Bowl- 
ing Green, Kentucky, as it appears, with its 
environment, from its reservoir is, in my judgment, 
next to Austin in beauty. What I think of the two 
places is, however, a matter of little importance. 

While I was, in Austin, that is in the Spring of 
1885, I witnessed the laying of the corner-stone of 

(166) 



Monterey. 167 

the State House. The ceremony attracted a large 
crowd. The building is now complete, and is 
thought superior to any State Capitol in the Union. 
Texas may well be proud of it. 

In April, 1885, the energetic Dr. O. C. Pope 
arranged and superintended an excursion to Mon- 
terey, to attend the dedication of the Baptist 
meeting-house in that city. This was the first house 
of worship erected by Baptists in the Republic of 
Mexico. I was in the excursion, and Dr. Pope 
generously met all the expense incident to my 
going, and I also went by request of Dr. H. L. 
Morehouse, Corresponding Secretary of the Ameri- 
can Baptist Home Mission Society. 

I was greatly disappointed on the trip when I 
reached Laredo and saw the historic river Rio 
Grande. I was looking for a large stream, not as 
wide as the Mississippi, but comparable to the Ohio 
or the Cumberland. It is much smaller than the 
Cumberland at Nashville. Soon after leaving the 
Rio Grande I thought we would encounter terrific 
storms, for very dark clouds seemed to be rising in 
different directions. I learned that what I thought 
clouds were dark mountains, and I saw neither storm 
nor rain in Mexico. 

Rev. Thomas M. Westrup, pastor of the church in 
Monterey, arranged for the dedication services, 
which were full of interest. Dr. Powell preached 
the sermon in Spanish, not ten words of which did 
I understand. Several of the visiting brethren 
made addresses in English, which were translated 



168 Reminiscences. 

by Mr. Westrup into Spanish. My topic was, 
' ' Through Christ to the Church, ' ' and when I spoke 
a sentence I paused, and Mr. W. translated it. I was 
told afterward that a Presbyterian Missionary criti- 
cised what I said ; but I still think that Baptists 
alone can truly say, "Through Christ to the 
Church." Pedobaptist denominations must say,, 
"Through the Church to Christ." 

Dr. W. C. Wilkinson, of Tarrytown, New York, 
was present at the dedication, and we, having been 
sent to the same hotel, occupied the same room. I 
have ever since regarded this as a very fortunate 
thing for me. I thus became acquainted with a 
very intelligent Christian gentleman, from whom, if 
I did not learn many things, it was my fault. Dr. 
Wilkinson has acted a prominent part in the prepa- 
ration of a number of volumes for the Chautauqua 
course of reading, and he has an enviable place in 
the republic of letters. 

We of course heard a good deal about the capture 
of Monterey by General Taylor's forces in the 
Mexican War, and some memorable places were 
pointed out. The excursion made a visit of a few 
hours to Saltillo, the headquarters of Dr. Powell's 
missionary operations. Everything seemed hopeful 
and prophetic of success. 

The civilization of Mexico is strikingly different 
from that of the United States. The houses are 
different, and their flat roofs give them an Oriental 
appearance. In leaving Monterey I felt almost as 



Jubilee of General Association cf Kentucky. 169 

if I were leaving some city in Syria. My imagina- 
tion was at work, as I never saw Syria. 

Eeturning from Mexico to Austin, I enjoyed for 
a few days the company of kindred and friends, 
among whom were Dr. William Howard, pastor of 
the church, and Drs. J. B. Link and O. C. Pope, 
editors of " The Texas Baptist Herald" 

Early in May I left Austin with my wife for Mur- 
freesboro, Tennessee, where we spent the Summer 
with Mr. and Mrs. Waters, and the next Winter 
with Mr. and Mrs. Proctor, Bowling Green, Ky. 
Here I wrote my last book, "Notes of Sermons," 
which was published during the year 1886. It has 
had a respectable circulation. In January of this 
year there was at Bowling Green the coldest weather 
I ever felt. That is to say, the thermometer was 
twenty degrees below zero, and the snow was 
twenty-seven inches deep. I had never seen the 
thermometer so low, by a number of degrees, nor 
the snow so deep. 

In May of this year we returned to Pennsylvania, 
spent the Summer with our son and family, and saw 
many old friends. In the absence of the pastor, 
Rev. Willard H. Robinson, I preached for the First 
Baptist Church, West Philadelphia, five Sundays, 
and was frequently at the Minister's Conference. 

In November, 1886, we returned to Austin and 
passed the Winter very pleasantly. 

The Summer of 1887 found us again at Murfrees- 
boro, where we remained till we went to the Jubilee 
meeting at Louisville, Kentucky, in October. Here 



170 Reminiscences. 

an explanation is necessary. The General Associa- 
tion of Baptists was formed at Louisville, October 
20, 1837, and at the approach of its fiftieth year, 
it was decided to hold a Jubilee October 20, 
1887. The arrangement was for all who were 
Messengers in 1837, to be guests of the Association 
at the Jubilee. The number of survivors was 
small, namely, J. L. Burrows, E. G. Berry, George 
Robertson, M. W. Sherrill, John Handsborough, 
and myself. We only had lived through the fifty 
years that had just expired. 

The meeting was held in the Walnut-street Church, 
and Rev. Green Clay Smith presided. Dr. John A. 
Broadus made an address of welcome, to which it 
was expected that Dr. T. G. Keen would respond, 
but he had died the month before. The response 
was therefore made by Dr. Henry McDonald, of At- 
lanta, Georgia, formerly a resident of Kentucky. 

Instructive papers were read by Drs. J. H. 
Spencer, William M. Pratt, D. Dowden, J. L. Bur- 
rows, and W. H. Felix ; and interesting addresses 
were made by Drs. A. D. Sears, R. M. Dudley, 
George C. Lorimer, and Brother Thomas C. Bell. 

I had been appointed to prepare and read a paper- 
on "The Condition of the Baptist Cause in Ken- 
tucky in 1837." It was rather adventurous in me 
at the close of my paper to refer, as I did, to my 
wife, and I felt some anxiety about the matter. 
When, however, the Moderator and Dr. Broadus 
told me I was justifiable, I was relieved. Another 
brother said that it would not do for every preacher 






Jubilee of General Association of Kentucky. 171 

thus to refer to his wife, but that in this case "there 
was a woman behind what was said.' 1 I regarded 
this as a high compliment. I quote in part what I 
read, as follows : 

"She, the wife of my young manhood, of my middle 
age, and of my old age, is here to-day to enjoy these exer- 
cises. Deprived of sight, she can only hear your voices. 
How glad she would be to see your faces, and specially the 
face of the Walnut-street pastor, whose father and mother 
she so much admired and loved thirty years ago. But it 
cannot be. Still, there is comfort unspeakable in the 
thought that there is in reserve what the ' old theologians ' 
called the 'beatific vision.' The Saints are to 'see God;' 
they are to serve Him and 'see His face.' They are to be- 
hold the Lamb in the midst of the throne, His head once 
crowned with thorns, now wearing a crown of glory brighter 
than the sun ; His hands, once stretched forth in quivering 
agony on the Cross, now swaying the scepter of universal 
empire, while all the hosts of heaven shout His praise. To 
see Him of Calvary enthroned in majesty, what a vision will 
that be ! How will it compensate for all the disabilities and 
privations of physical blindness ! " 

When I read this, it was grateful to my feelings 
to witness the sympathetic emotion excited in the 
audience. 

After the Jubilee was over we went to Bowling 
Green, where we staid till the 13th of March, 1888, 
the time of our "Golden Wedding." This day 
would probably have passed unnoticed if the editor 
of the Western Recorder, Dr. T. T. Eaton, had not 
suggested the propriety of celebrating it. Arrange- 
ments were made for its celebration. Cards of 
invitation were sent to many friends, and more than 



172 Beminiscences. 

a hundred responsive letters were received. The 
celebration occurred in the Baptist church in Bowl- 
ing Green. Prayer was offered by the pastor, Rev. 
M. M. Riley, and the opening address was made by 
Dr. Eaton. In referring to other days at Murfrees- 
boro, when his parents were there, his feelings 
became so much excited as to impede his utterance 
and to make it evident to all that he could not say 
what he intended to say. His broken accents and 
his silence were eloquent. Inability to speak is 
sometimes more effective than speech. 

I had to respond, and the following is the sub- 
stance of what I said : 

I am embarrassed, and yet much obliged by the 
kind things Dr. Eaton has said. It is appropriate 
that the son of Joseph H. and E. M. Eaton should 
speak on this occasion. They were our friends of 
other years, and we cannot better express our esti- 
mate of them than by saying that when they died 
earth was impoverished and heaven enriched. We 
are gratified that their son is here to contribute so 
much to the interest and pleasure of this fiftieth 
anniversary of our married life. 

Fifty years ago the two persons most deeply in- 
terested in this occasion had no expectation of living 
to see this hour. We did not enjoy vigorous health 
and did not anticipate long life. God has been 
pleased to disappoint us, and we can look back to 
twenty years spent here, five in Tennessee, three in 
Ohio, and eighteen in Pennsylvania. The last foui 



Golden Wedding. 173 

years have been spent in four States in which our 
four children live. 

In looking back for half a century we see a thou- 
sand things to be thankful for. We have found 
comparatively few thorns in our pathway and many 
beautiful flowers. Over our heads birds of bright 
plumage have sung their sweet songs. With delight 
we have heard these songs, though one of us in re- 
cent years has not been able to see the lovely flowers. 
But there is no murmuring on this account. We 
prefer to think of our mercies rather than of our 
privations and afflictions. We have found life a 
blessing, not a curse ; a joy, not a sorrow ; a privi- 
lege, not a misfortune ; a benediction, not a calamity. 
For all this we give devout thanks to God ; nor are 
we less thankful that we have been permitted to 
tread together the path of life for fifty happy years. 
We know that only a short space of time is before 
us, but from this fact we extract the precious conso- 
lation that when one of us is called away, the 
survivor will have to weep only a little while, a 
very little while, at the grave of the dead. Yes, 
we must both die, but we do not wish our children, 
grand-children, and friends to think of us as dead, 
but rather as having gone from the land of the 
dead to the land of the living. Through riches of 
grace in Christ Jesus the Lord we expect a home in 
the bright realms of immortal glory. 

Now, dearest one, it is fitting that I speak a word 
to you. There is no earthly object so dear to my 
heart. You are not as you were fifty years ago 



174 Reminiscences. 

to-night. Then with elastic step you walked with 
me to the marriage altar, and we pledged to each 
other our vows of loyalty and love. I do not recog- 
nize that elastic step now. Then your face was 
fresh and blooming ; now the freshness and bloom 
are gone, and wrinkles have taken their place, while 
gray hairs adorn your head. Then, and forty-six 
years afterward, the expression of your mild blue 
eyes was always a benediction ; now that expression 
is no longer seen, for blindness has taken the place 
of sight. 

But, with these changes in you, my love has not 
changed. Bodily affliction has not eclipsed the 
intellectual and spiritual excellences of your char- 
acter. You are the same to me, and no kiss during 
half a century has been more deeply expressive of 
my love than the one I now give you. 

At the close of my remarks, the program required 
a song from the choir ; but deep feeling made music 
impossible, and not a note was heard. I do not 
know how it was, but it was stated in a paper the 
next day, that when I kissed my wife, the audience 
was dissolved in tears. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

Return to Upland— Anniversaries at Washington- 
American Baptist Education Society — Mr. 
Cleveland's Reception — Wayland Seminary — 
Columbian University — Visit to Dr. Osgood — 
Bible Class of My Son — Death of Mrs. S. A. 
Crozer — Conclusion. 

In May, 1888, I returned to Upland, but remained 
only a short time before going to the Anniversaries 
at Washington, held the latter part of the month. 
They were numerously attended and were full of 
interest. Many persons will go to the capital city 
when they would go nowhere else. This is not 
strange, for everybody wishes to see the head-quar- 
ters of the nation. Congress was in session at this 
time, and it was a matter of interest to look at the 
lawgivers of the people. They deserve respect, and 
always have it, when they act worthily of their 
station. I saw and heard some of the leading men 
of both political parties. Among Democrats were 
such men as Samuel J. Randall, W. C. P. Breckin- 
ridge, R. Q. Mills and others, while T. B. Reed 
and W. McKinley were prominent among Republi- 
cans. All these were in the House of Representa- 
tives, and Edmunds, Sherman, Ingalls, Hoar, 
Hampton, Yance, Harris, and Cole figured in the 

(175) 



176 Beminiscences. 

Senate. But the Senate is not what it was in the 
days of its glory, when the eloquence of Clay, 
Webster and Calhoun not only electrified its Cham- 
ber, but was felt in the remotest parts of the nation. 
Who can tell the influence of great statesmen ? 

I must not forget the Anniversaries : The Mis- 
sionary Union, the Home Mission Society, and the 
Publication Society, all held their sessions, made 
their annual reports, and transacted important busi- 
ness. In addition to all this, "The American 
Baptist Education Society" was formed. There 
was a difference of opinion as to the necessity of 
this Society. The majority of the brethren thought 
it necessary, and it was organized. A minority was 
of opinion that we already had societies enough. 
I was in the minority and voted accordingly, but the 
success of the Society has convinced me that I was 
wrong, and now I am its friend. It has accom- 
plished great good, and the prospect of much 
greater good is bright and cheering. 

During the meetings President Cleveland was 
pleased to tender a reception to the many Baptists 
who were in attendance. They went in large num- 
bers, and the hand-shaking must have been a 
burden to the President. After getting through 
with my part of it I found myself in front of the 
White House, and the crowds were still coming. I 
saw so many personal friends to whom I spoke, that 
I facetiously told them I was holding an opposition 
reception. 

Mr. Cleveland's face did not strike me as being 



Wayland Seminary. 177 

intellectual, but this shows that we ought not to 
judge according to appearance. Mr. Cleveland is a 
man of ability and honesty. He acts from princi- 
ple, and certainly did so in assuming his position on 
the tariff question, with the majority of his party, at 
that time, against him. He deserves credit for his 
patient investigation of "pension cases," and his 
vetoes of unjust "pension bills." In short, his 
administration has promoted the interests of the 
country. 

While at Washington I visited Wayland Seminary 
and was pleased to see its prosperity under the wise 
management of President King. He has done a 
great work in the education of colored ministers, 
and has much cause for satisfaction with the results 
of his patient labors. It is no longer a question 
whether the negro intellect can be improved. The 
fact has been demonstrated. 

Washington is now a beautiful place, and it is 
thought by many, that when all the plans for its im- 
provement are carried into effect, it will be the most 
beautiful capital city of the world. It is becoming 
more and more attractive. Columbian University 
is a very important institution, and if it could 
receive an addition of two millions to its endowment 
it would then be able to avail itself of Government 
facilities worth fifteen millions of dollars. It is to 
be hoped that this object of earnest solicitude will 
be realized in the near future. 

Returning from Washington, I spent the Summer 
with old friends at Upland, with the exception of the 
12 



178 Beminiscences. 

time occupied in a visit to Dr. Osgood's, at 
Rochester, New York. My wife and I have ever 
found it delightful to be in the family of Dr. 
Osgood. Our frequent visits have been oases in the 
desert of life. Dr. Osgood, though a close student 
and a learned man, is versed in all the proprieties 
and amenities of the first circle of society ; and Mrs. 
Osgood is our ideal of an accomplished and lovely 
woman, while their children have had a training 
nearer perfection than we have seen in any other 
family. The Lord bless the attractive household. 

In November, 1888, we went again to Austin, 
Texas, to spend the Winter, and to be present at the 
marriage of our eldest grand-daughter. She was 
married to Mr. Alexander S. "Walker, son of Judge 
Walker, a prominent man in Texas. The marriage 
took place November 27, in the First Baptist 
Church, and was witnessed by a crowded audience. 
Everything passed off with the utmost propriety and 
dignity. It is not often that a man marries his- 
grand-daughter, but I officiated at her request. May 
heaven's selectest blessings rest on the happy pair 
while they tread the pathway of life. 

Remaining in Austin till the middle of January, 
1889, and not finding the weather sufficiently wintry, 
we made our way to Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 
pursuit of Winter, but we did not find it and have 
not yet found it ; for to this day (January 19, 1891) 
we have had no really cold weather. 

We enjoyed the affectionate hospitalities of Mr. 
and Mrs. Procter till May, and during our sojourn 



Southern Baptist Convention at Memphis. 179 

with them saw a few of our old friends, and the 
children of those we knew forty years ago. This 
has been the case whenever we have been here, 
within the last few years. The friendships of 
fathers and mothers have been inherited by their 
descendants, and we are treated with considerate 
kindness. My feelings prompt me to say that I 
have had pleasant ministerial intercourse with 
brethren M. M. Kiley, M. F. Ham, J. G. Durham, 
and K. Jenkins. They are men of God and are 
useful in his cause. The church and congregation 
here have greatly increased during the pastorate of 
Brother Riley, the house of worship has been made 
very attractive and a beautiful parsonage has been 
built. 

Elders Ham and Durham are advanced in life, 
and their work will soon be done ; brethren Riley 
and Jenkins are in the vigor of manhood, and there 
are probably many years before them. 

From Bowling Green we went early in May to 
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and enjoyed the kind 
attentions of Mr. and Mrs. Waters till October. I 
went to the Southern Baptist Convention at Mem- 
phis and saw many of the brethren whom I had 
known in other years, and some whom I had never 
seen before. 

We returned to Bowling Green in October and 
remained till April, 1890, when we went to Upland 
for the fourth time since the resignation of my 
pastorate. Our son and his wife made us more than 
welcome, friends called to see us, and we were glad 



180 Beminiscences. 

to worship where we had so often worshipped in 
years past. We were pleased to hear persons of all 
classes speak in terms of commendation of the 
pastor, Rev. C. L. Williams. He evidently holds 
a high place in the esteem and love of the people. 

The Twenty-first Anniversary of Crozer Seminary 
took place in June. Dr. E. G. Robinson preached 
the Baccalaureate Sermon, so called, and it was an 
able discourse. Dr. Robinson, though considerably 
over "three score years and ten," shows no sign 
of intellectual decadence. His mind is bright as 
ever and he expresses his thoughts in vigorous lan- 
guage. Nothing of very special importance came 
before the Board of Trustees except the election of 
Mr. Evans to a place in the faculty. His professor- 
ship has to do with the study of the Bible in English. 
There were fifteen graduates, nearly all of whom 
made speeches that did them credit and reflected 
honor on their teachers. Dr. Weston, with his 
usual dignity on such occasions, presented their 
certificates of theological scholarship to the grad- 
uates, and Dr. Long made a parting address rich in 
thought and full of sound advice. 

Dr. Weston is to be congratulated on having pre- 
sided, without interruption, at the Crozer Anniver- 
saries for twenty-two years, even from the estab- 
lishment of the Seminary. He has much to be 
thankful for when he considers what has been done 
under his administration. 

During this sojourn at Upland I was honored, as 
I had been twice before, by the Bible class taught 



Bible Class of My Son, 181 

by my son. The class numbers about seventy, all 
adults, and meets in the Sunday-school chapel in the 
afternoon of Sunday. The honor referred to was a 
call by the class to see me, and it was arranged that 
I should be taken by surprise. This had been done 
before, but I did not believe it could be done again, 
nor did 1 think that it would be attempted. But 
the thing was done, and the surprise was complete. 
I suppose nearly every member of the class was 
present and I was found in my slippers with an old 
coat on. By the way, I would like to know what 
element in human nature it is that makes one person 
enjoy the surprise of another. I do not understand 
the matter. My wife knew the purpose of the class, 
as did my son and his family, but all were charged 
to keep it a profound secret from me, and they 
really seemed to enjoy my embarrassment and con- 
fusion. There was an abundance of ice cream, and 
cakes of various kinds and sizes. There was a short 
speech made to me by the pastor, Kev. C. L. 
Williams, who was invited to be present. He spoke 
very appropriately, but my response was a poor 
thing. Much of the time was spent in conversation 
and singing, and the occasion was a happy one. I 
have a suitable appreciation of the honor conferred 
on me, and may those who bestowed it be blessed 
for time and eternity. 

It is a great gratification to me that my son has 
charge of this Bible class. It furnishes him an op- 
portunity of doing good, and I may say, great good. 
It will never be fully known in this world what 



182 Beminiscences. 

beneficent results follow a judicious exposition of 
Scripture. The effect of the exposition is not only 
felt by those who hear it, but it may be transmitted 
through them to coming generations. This suggests 
the idea of solemn, yet delightful responsibility on 
the part of Bible class teachers. 

While in Upland this Summer, that is, on the 
13th of July, an event occurred which created a deep 
sensation and spread a pall of gloom over the commu- 
nity. Mrs. Samuel A. Crozer died on that day. It 
was a day of sorrow and mourning. Sad faces, 
symbolic of sad hearts, were seen everywhere. On 
the day of the funeral appropriate remarks were 
made by the pastor, and by Dr. Weston and Dr. 
Wayland. The pastor suggested that I say some- 
thing, but I preferred reading the Scripture, and 
pouring forth my heart in prayer for the bereaved 
husband, the motherless children, and a large circle 
of relatives and friends. The time of sorrow is 
emphatically the time for prayer. God says, u Call 
on me in the day of trouble." 

Mrs. Crozer was a remarkable woman, with 
bright intellect, of fine conversational powers, lit- 
erary taste, and a capacity to entertain both old and 
young in the social circle. But it is the sphere of 
her Christian activities to which I wish to make 
special reference. She had charge of the church 
music and performed on the organ for more than 
thirty years. She taught a large class to sing by 
note and made them accomplished singers, so that 
they lead the congregation in the music of the 



Death of Mrs. S. A. Crozer. 183 

sanctuary. I may say, too, that in all my travels 
from Pennsylvania to Texas, I have heard no con- 
gregational singing equal to that of Upland. There 
is a spiritual heartiness in it that I have not wit- 
nessed elsewhere. 

Mrs. Crozer also, for several years, taught the 
infant class in the Sunday-school. She loved 
children and was at home in her class of between 
one and two hundred. She required each child to 
give a penny every Sunday, and thus she directed 
attention to the great cause of Foreign Missions. 

Mrs. Crozer had pecuniary means at her com- 
mand, and used them for the benefit of the needy. 
Many shared in her benefactions, and in her the 
poor found a friend. Even since her death some of 
her deeds of kindness, of which she said nothing, 
have come to light. 

Mrs. Crozer was in feeble health for months be- 
fore her death, but she was bright and cheerful, and 
filled her places of usefulness as long as she was 
able. Indeed, her energetic spirit seemed at times 
to compel her body to do what it had not strength 
to perform. When the last hour drew near and she 
knew she must die, her mind was calm, and among 
her last words were these, "Jesus is my Savior. " 
What a blessed thing it is to have such an assurance 
in the dying hour ! It is worth more than all the 
honors and riches of the world. 

In August, 1890, my wife and I went on the 
broad Delaware to Cape May Point to spend a week. 
We found "old ocean" as grand as ever, rolling its 



184 Reminiscences. 

majestic waves to the shore as in all past years. 
This is a sight of which one never tires. The 
Christian hears the voice of God in the waters of 
the mighty deep and thinks of the day when the 
" sea will give up its dead." 

While at the Cape, we were near President Harri- 
son's Cottage and I saw him several times. He 
went in bathing, and attended church, as every man 
should do. The President is a man of very re- 
spectable talents, though he is not entitled to a place 
among the first of statesmen. He is honest and is 
striving to use his great office for the benefit of the 
people. I could but be struck with the fact that he 
is not magnetic as Henry Clay was, and as James 
G. Blaine is ; but magnetism is a rare quality. 

Returning from the Cape, we remained at Upland 
till November, when we came to dear old Bowling 
Green, where we now are (January, 1891) and 
where we find our friends as kind as in other days. 



Conclusion. 
In closing these Reminiscences, written at the 
special request of my son, I wish to say that the 
affectionate kindness of our children renders the old 
age of my wife and myself bright and cheerful. 
We divide our time among them and are obliged, 
from the treatment we receive, to believe that each 
one of them would like to have us all the time. We 
have everything to be thankful for and nothing to 
complain of. 



Conclusion. 185 

It may be a satisfaction to the children to know 
that I began to write these Reminiscences on my 
seventy-ninth birthday, November 20, 1890, and 
that I finish them in two months. 

Bowling Green, Ky., January 20, 1891. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

Last Illness — Death — Funeral and Memorial 
Services. 

The pen has fallen from the hand of him who 
wrote the preceding pages, and it now devolves 
upon me to chronicle the fact and the date of his 
departure. This is done at his request ; but filial 
devotion will not suffer the simple mention of an 
event that forms an epoch in so many lives. 

It will prove of interest to his absent children 
and his friends to know something of the last 
months and the last days of his earthly existence. 

Upon his arrival at Upland, in the Spring of 
1890, his appearance was such as to awaken in the 
hearts of friendly observers a fear that his days on 
earth were numbered. He was evidently in failing 
health. As the summer advanced he seemed to 
grow weaker. At times, his sufferings were acute 
and intense. He bore them, however, with an 
almost sublime patience. While the ills of the 
flesh weighed heavily upon him, his spirit showed a 
peacef ulness and serenity that indicated a ripening 
for heaven. 

In view of the manifest approach to the closing 
of this eventful life, his friend, Dr. John C. Long, 
who had previously more than once made the sug- 

(186) 



Failing Health. 187 

gestion, now again urged that Father should reduce 
to some permanent form the scenes and incidents of 
other days, many of which he had witnessed, and in 
many of which he had participated. . Because of 
his habit of close obseryation and of his remark- 
ably retentive memory, it was felt that he must 
possess a fund of information, which, unless thus 
imparted by him, would be lost to history. Ab- 
sorbed as he was in his duties as a student and a 
teacher of Divine truth, he yet found time to feel 
and to express, throughout all 'the years of his active 
life, an eager interest in current politics. By pro- 
fession a theologian, he yet possessed a knowledge 
and a grasp of public affairs that would have secured 
for him no mean rank as a statesman or constitu- 
tional lawyer. 

It has been remarked by some of his friends that 
he knew nothing but theology, but knew that, well. 
It is true that he ever declined to lay claim to 
scholarship or breadth of culture ; but, whenever 
induced to enter upon the discussion of a given 
question, whether political, social, moral, meta- 
physical, or linguistic, it was generally discovered 
that his ignorance, if such it may be termed, was 
more blissful to himself than to his opponent. The 
secret of his success as a debater was the perfect 
accuracy of his information and his absolute mastery 
of the subject in hand. 

Possessing such qualities of mind, he could not 
fail to throw valuable light upon the burning ques- 
tions, the momentous issues, and the wondrous 



188 Undertakes Beminiscences. 

achievements of the era in which he lived. Such 
was the opinion of those who desired him to add his 
contribution to the history of his times. 

But, urgent as was the request, so great was his 
fear of incurring the charge of egotism, that he 
repeatedly refused to undertake the work. 

It was my good fortune to strike a responsive 
chord in his affectionate heart ; and this was by the 
suggestion that such a sketch of his life of observa- 
tion and experience would be a source of interest 
and of profit to his children. 

It was then a labor of love on which he entered, 
when, on the 20th day of November, 1890, when 
just seventy-nine years of age, he set himself to the 
formidable task of recounting, unaided by memo- 
randa, the ample outlines of a not inactive career of 
four score years. 

Having decided to write his Reminiscences, he 
applied himself to the work with characteristic 
energy — with a system and a regularity equally 
characteristic, devoting two hours a day to this par- 
ticular subject. The last line was written on the 
20th day of January, 1891. 

This he called his Winter's recreation. It did not 
interfere with his literary activity in other lines, as 
the columns of the denominational press for the 
period will testify. His pen was in constant use, 
until the day when attacked by his fatal illness. 
After his death I found among his papers an un- 
published article on ' ' The Woman of Canaan. ' ' 

While he felt that the Reminiscences would prove 



Fatal Illness. 189 

the last of his extended literary efforts, he did not 
at first believe that his illness, contracted on the 
10th day of February, would terminate fatally. It 
was pronounced by his physicians to be capillary 
bronchitis, and from the first, they offered no hope 
of recovery. When informed of his condition, he 
remarked, "Well, gentlemen, you may be right; 
but I do not feel like a dying man." 

The progress of the disease was rapid, and he 
soon passed into a state semi-conscious and, at times, 
delirious. For the greater part of his illness he 
was mercifully spared acute suffering. Kow and 
again, full consciousness would return. Then he 
recognized the different members of his family and 
exhibited perfect clearness and strength of intellect. 
It was upon two of these occasions, so precious to 
those hovering about him, that he gave his parting 
messages to family and friends, and, with all the 
solemnity surrounding the dying bed of a Christian, 
testified to the strength of his faith and hope and to 
the gospel's efficacy to support, when flesh and 
heart fail. 

It is fitting that his words, uttered in this im- 
pressive manner, and taken down as they fell from 
his lips, should be recorded for the comfort of that 
devoted inner circle, now broken, and of that larger 
circle that loved him living, and now venerate him 
departed." 

' ' I have very little to say of myself. My letter 

*It is thought best to omit special messages to the children and 
grand children, these having been preserved in another form.— ! Ed. 



190 Last Words. 

of resignation expresses it. A poor sinner saved 
by grace. I have performed some labor in my day, 
but everything has been tinctured with imperfection 
and impurity. If God should speak to me and tell 
me that if I could find one sermon that I had 
preached in all these sixty years that was free from 
imperfection, I might depend on that, I would not 
listen to it for a moment. It is grace, grace, from 
first to last. I just expect to go into eternity, say- 
ing : Lord, here I am, a poor, weak, sinful creature, 
having no claim, and the only hope of being saved 
is that Jesus Christ died in the place of sinners. I 
know no other hope. I believe what I did sixty 
years ago, just exactly. Yes, it is the same old 
story, not one particle of change in my views. In 
March, 1865, when I thought I was going to die, I 
felt this way, and that is my feeling yet. Tell the 
other children the same. They may know that I 
think about them every day ; pray for them every 
day ; for years and years have done that. My 
prayers have been that my descendants to the re- 
motest generations, may. be found among the ser- 
vants of God. 

"I have published a great many things in my day. 
You may say that I have never had the first regret 
that I devoted myself to the ministry. I have had 
a good many trials, in one way and another, in 
connection with it." 

Speaking to his daughter, Mrs. Procter, who had 
nursed him so faithfully, day and night, throughout 
his illness, he said: "You could not have done 



His Supreme Purpose. 191 

more than you have done. If my death should 
occur here, it seems fitting that I should end my 
career where I began it pretty much — where I 
brought my bride, once so cheerful and happy, now 
so sad. She cannot see those she loves most. If 
I should die I would wish her to remain in this 
family. It will be but a little while. It is not 
worth while for me to say to any of you, be kind to 
your mother. I know you will be. Be kind, be 
kind, be kind." 

"My object has been to be an accomplished de- 
bater ; claiming nothing unjust, yielding to nothing 
unjust. My grand supreme purpose has been the 
establishment of truth. I have never attempted to 
disparage any other brother. My hope is as strong 
as it ever was. I do not know that my hope is as 
bright as, when a boy, I hitched my horse and went 
into the woods to thank God that He sent His Son 
into the world to die ; but it is as strong as ever. 
You young people may lay too much stress upon 
the joy of religion. I do not suppose it is necessary 
for me to say more. I have written so much Give 
my love to Dr. Robinson, Dr. Weston, and the 
members of the faculty of the Seminary. Give my 
love to the pastor and church, and Sunday-school 
and Bible class at Upland." 

As the days passed away, he seemed more fully 
to realize his condition. After attending to some 
little matters of business, and having expressed his 
desire as to mother's earthly future, his spirit was 
calm and peaceful. He seemed to have done with 



192 Interest in Scripture Selections. 

the tilings of earth, save the evident enjoyment of 
listening to the conversation of the members of his 
family present, and the solicitous messages of the 
absent ones. It was a source of grief to his eldest 
daughters that they were unable, because of distance 
and ill health, to be with him. Yet it will comfort 
them to be assured that he fully appreciated the 
cause of their absence, and felt that they acted 
wisely. 

He was greatly surprised and pleased by the visit 
of his brother-in-law and friend of more than half 
a century, Uncle William Garnett, of Chicago. He 
and mother are the survivors of a family of twelve. 
How deep and tender the solicitude of the brother 
as he ministered words of comfort to the sister en- 
tering the shadows of widowhood. 

Father greatly enjoyed the seasons of prayer, and 
was interested in the Scripture selections. He 
asked, upon one occasion, for the one hundred and 
sixteenth Psalm, remarking : ' ' They generally read 
the one hundred and fifteenth at such times, but I 
prefer this." He was the only one unmoved at the 
reading of the verse : "Precious in the sight of the 
Lord is the death of His saints." 

At another time he suggested the reading of the 
seventh chapter of Kevelation. His soul was then 
yearning for the land of the redeemed. He longed 
for a sight of that multitude come out of great trib- 
ulation. He wished to be with them. "For the 
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed 
them and shall lead them unto living fountains of 



Life Ebbing Away. 193 

waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes." This was a favorite passage with him, 
and more than once have I heard him say that 
Kobert Burns, wicked man that he was, could not 
read the verse with tearless eyes. 

Two hours before his death, he sent a message to 
his second daughter : "Tell Fannie, 'Call upon Me 
in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee. ' That is 
indefinite. It does not say what hind of trouble, 
nor when He will deliver." Highly favored one, 
to receive the last words of such a Father ! With a 
heart ever throbbing with love and sympathy for his 
children, his ruling passion was strong in death. 

He spoke not again, but from his eyes there 
shone a depth of affection more eloquent than 
words. The inevitable end was approaching. It 
was fitting that the faithful servant of the Prince of 
Peace should sink to rest in the presence of his 
loved ones. The family sat by the bedside and 
watched the ebbing away of •that life so full of 
precious significance to them and to the world. 
There, in the background, in tearful silence, stood 
representatives of that race for whom he had done 
and suffered not a little. Close at hand were the 
friend and brother of his youth, and he whose devo- 
tion, as that of a son in the flesh, had brightened 
the sunset of life. Still nearer was a scene that 
must have moved the least impressible. Son and 
daughter supported the mother as her sightless eyes 
seemed to strain after even a passing glimpse of 

her loved one. The hand of the blind was clasped 
13 



194 Falls Asleep. 

in the hand of the dying — the eloquence of a voice- 
less, sightless grief. 

Thus came the hour of departure. So gently did 
he pass away that mother knew not when his spirit 
fled. At high noon, on the 4th day of March, he 
closed his eyes, and peacefully and painlessly entered 
that land that is fairer than day. 

To his two children who were present, it was a 
new and strange experience. Death is pictured as 
the King of Terrors. It is often attended by the 
most excruciating physical suffering, which, in the 
case of the godless man is aggravated by the most 
fearful spiritual convulsions. Death is to such the 
King of Terrors, but not so to him who serves the 
King of kings. So tranquil, so easy the exit of the 
soul from the body, we could but exclaim : Can this 
be death! Well might we inquire, "Where, O 
death, is thy sting ; where, O grave, thy victory ! ' ' 

The sun shone in noontide splendor. Nature 
gave glad response to its genial warmth. Stern 
Winter had melted into smiling Spring. Winter, 
emblematic of trials and bereavements, forever 
past ; Spring, the foregleam of that restful vision 
on which his eyes had opened. Blessed closing ! 
blissful opening ! To the cares of earth, forever 
closed ; to the joys of heaven, forever open. 

Whatever the bereavement of those left behind, 
they possess this priceless consolation, that he has 
achieved the two-fold object of his sanctified ambi- 
tion : He is like Jesus, for he has seen Him as He 
is. Blessed the pure in heart, for they shall see 



Dies A mon g Ea rly Friends. ] 95 

God. He saw Him, on earth, even in the midst of 
dark providences. Now, in unbeclouded light, and 
with the problems of life made plain, he sees Him 
face to face. 

When father crossed the Ohio River, in the fall 
of 1862, he had little idea of ever returning to the 
South. He had then reached middle age. The 
land was convulsed by a fratricidal war that bade 
fair to rend the nation into irreclaimably hostile 
sections. He feared that his usefulness was ended. 
Borne down by the grief of a patriot over the 
distracted condition of his beloved country, and 
overwhelmed by the sore bereavement in the loss of 
his son, he probably did not look for length of days. 

Brighter days, however, came. The war closed. 
His usefulness had been re-established ; but in a 
different climate and among new surroundings. As 
the years glided away and old age came on apace, 
it was his desire, when death should come, to find a 
resting place in the little cemetery at Upland, among 
those to whom he had devoted the latter years of 
his ministry. 

But it was decreed otherwise. He resigned his 
charge in Pennsylvania, and he and mother found 
it congenial to their feelings to divide their time 
among their children. Upon her marriage in 1876, 
his daughter, Mrs. Procter, became a resident of 
Bowling Green, Kentucky, and still resides there. 

Thus, by a succession of events, unforeseen and 
altogether improbable, at the date of his leaving 
Bowling Green, in 1857, he returned to his former 



196 Funeral Services. 

home, after thirty-three years of life in Tennessee, 
Ohio and Pennsylvania. There is a poetic fitness 
in the providence that turned the heart of the old 
man toward the scenes of his youth ; that brought 
him back to the State of his first love, there to rest 
in the bosom of the land sacred with the precious 
dust of his kindred. 

It was in January of 1837 that he began his min- 
istry at Bowling Green. It was at Bowling Green, 
on the 25th day of January, 1891, that he preached 
his last sermon. His text was taken from the fourth 
verse of the fifty-first Psalm. His topic was ' ' Sin- 
ning Against God." God was the center of his 
preaching. His first sermon treated of repentance ; 
his last, of sin. Sin is sin against God. Repent- 
ance is repentance toward God. 

The funeral services were held at two o'clock, 
March 6th, in the Baptist church at Bowling Green. 
It was appropriate that in this building, the scene 
of his faithful and efficient labors, should be gath- 
ered a multitude to do honor to his memory : fellow 
ministers of the Word ; descendants of the friends 
of other days ; his children in the faith ; with here 
and there the whitened locks and streaming eyes of 
those who with him had borne the burden and heat 
of the day, and will soon again meet him in the 
Celestial City. 

It was his expressed desire that Dr. T. T. Eaton, 
of Louisville, should conduct the services. For 
the parents of Dr. Eaton he had performed the like 
mournful duty. 



Funeral Services. 197 

The services were opened with the singing of the 

hymn, " Servant of God, well done." A Scripture 

selection (II Cor. iv : 6 to v : 10) was read by Rev. 

A. M. Boone. Eev. M. M. Riley, the pastor, 

offered a fervent and touching prayer in behalf of 

the widow and children. Mrs. Lucien D. Potter 

most effectively rendered the beautiful solo, "This 

Place is Holy Ground," being No. 1099 of the 

Psalmist. How appropriate the close of the second 

stanza: 

"Life so sweetly ceased to be, 
It lapsed in immortality." 

Dr. Eaton delivered an address drawn from the 
words of II Tim. iv : 7 : "I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith." He dwelt with special emphasis upon the 
last clause of the verse, and, defining "faith "in 
this connection, as the body of doctrine, illustrated 
the truth of the assertion as applied to Father, in 
that he had ever felt himself to be set for the 
defense of the Gospel ; had ever proved himself 
the champion of orthodoxy ; had ever contended 
for the faith once delivered to the saints, and had 
thus accomplished that "grand, supreme purpose" 
of his life, "the establishment of truth." It is 
impossible to furnish an adequate outline of the 
discourse. It can only be said that it was chaste in 
diction ; vigorous in thought ; eloquent in delivery ; 
full of tender feeling and appropriate in eulogy ; 
worthy of him who uttered it ; just to its subject 
and grateful to the family and friends. 



198 Funeral Services. 

Then was sung that hymn, the comfort of the 
living and the dying saint : 

"How firm a foundation." 

It was a source of regret that because of the dis- 
tance, no representative of Crozer Theological 
Seminary could be present to participate in the ser- 
vices. 

Father had been a Trustee of that institution 
since its foundation, and had ever felt and shown a 
more than official interest in its welfare ; ever re- 
joiced in its prosperity, and thanked God for the 
work accomplished by its faculty and graduates. 

It had been the habit of Dr. Weston to ask him, 
when present, to offer special prayer for the grad- 
uating class at Commencement ; and there are many 
who will remember how earnest were his petitions, 
and how more than once he expressed the regret 
that he was not again young, to join with them in 
the well-loved work of preaching the Gospel. How 
he loved that work, and how righteously envious of 
those who were going forth with physical and mental 
vigor, to toil in the fields white to the harvest ! 

It was, however, doubly gratifying that Dr. 
William H. Whittsitt could be present, and on 
behalf of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 
as well as of Father's former students, offer his 
tribute of respect and veneration to his departed 
friend and instructor. Few, but touching and ap- 
propriate were his words. As to courage of con- 
viction and stern fidelity to duty, the eulogist drew 



Memorial Services at Upland. 199 

a parallel between his subject and the prophet 
Elijah ; and. gazing into heaven, whither the spirit 
of God's servant had fled, could well exclaim with 
Elisha : ' ' My Father, my Father, the chariot of 
Israel and the horsemen thereof. 

A memorial service was held in the Baptist church 
at Upland, on Sunday, the 22d day of March. Dr. 
Bliss and Dr. Weston offered special and earnest 
prayer for the widow and family. The choir sang the 
appropriate anthem, ' ' Blessed Are the Dead Who 
Die in the Lord ; " also the beautiful hymn, "It Is 
Well With My Soul." Kev. C. L. Williams, the pas- 
tor, delivered a memorial address, wherein he spoke 
of transparency of character, fidelity of friendship, 
tenderness of his wife and unflinching devotion to 
the Gospel of Christ as among the striking traits of 
his predecessor in the Upland pulpit. 

The discourse was eloquent, able, polished, and 
was couched in language tender, beautiful and 
fully appreciative of the life and character of its 
subject. It was a just tribute to him who was 
devoted in his love to that church, and was a fitting 
chaplet to lay upon his grave. 

In view of Father's long and intimate connection 
with that body, it will not be considered out of 
place to insert in this sketch the following minute, 
which was adopted by the Philadelphia Conference of 
Baptist Ministers, on the 9th day of March, 1891 : 

The Conference places on record the deep feeling with 
which it has learned of the death of James Madison Pen- 
dleton. D. D. 



200 Besolutions. 

We recall with profound gratitude the high privilege of 
intimate intercourse with him during a quarter of a century, 
since he joined the Conference November 6, 1865. 

We have loved and honored him as a man of exalted 
piety, of large scriptural knowledge, of undeviating fidelity 
to conviction, of tender and loving spirit. 

He has been a pillar in the Temple of oar God, in the 
Conference and in the Denomination, a pillar of strength, a 
column of beauty. 

As we bid farewell to this good and great man, we look 
forward with hope and cheer to the renewed and endless 
union amid the Church of the First-born in the world that 
lies 

' ' Beyond the smiling and the weeping, 
Beyond the sowing and the reaping." 

At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees 
of The Crozer Theological Seminary, held on the 
10th day of June, 1891, the following action was 
taken on the recommendation of Rev. George Dana 
Boardman, D.D., Chairman of the Committee on 
Resolutions : 

"In making a minute of the death of our late colleague, 
James Madison Pendleton, Doctor of Divinity, we hereby 
place on record our deep appreciation of his eminent worth 
as a Christian, his reverent conscientiousness as a Bible 
student, his signal fidelity as a preacher and a pastor, his 
conspicuous loyalty as a Baptist, and especially his indefati- 
gable devotion as a Trustee of the Crozer Theological 
Seminary." 

In the midst of the family bereavement, our love 
and sympathy cluster about her who is the central 
figure in the scene of mourning. God gave her as 
a helpmate to her husband. Her unceasing devo- 
tion to him and to his work ; her unflagging interest 



Mother. 201 

and zealous efforts in the cause nearest his heart : 



her sympathy and her prayers, proclaim her the 
ideal wife. Nothing in their later years has been 
more touching or beautiful than the lover-like 
devotion of the old man to the one who, though 
stricken with blindness and the infirmities of age, 
ever remained to him the bride and the love of his 
youth. 

To her has come the saddest day of earth. To 
him, the lifetime-keeper of her heart's profoundest 
love, she must say farewell. She sorrows, but in 
the sweetness and the assurance of her faith, sor- 
rows not as they that have no hope. She must say 
' ' Farewell, ' ' but it is ' 'Farewell, till we meet again. ' ' 
She misses the strong arm and the loving voice, but 
can say and feel, "The Lord is my refuge and 
strength; a very present help in trouble." He is 
the comforter of the widow. He is eyes to the 
blind. And so, she calmly waits by the riverside. 
It is the late afternoon of life. The sun is ap- 
proaching its setting. She waits for the coming of 
the hour when the darkness of earth shall be ex- 
changed for the clear light of heaven ; when her 
heart and its great treasure shall again be united, 
and so shall husband and wife be ever with the 
Lord. 

To our mother and her children very grateful 
have been the many kind and sympathetic words 
that have been spoken and written by those whom 
Father loved and honored. We rejoice to believe 
that his work has not been in vain ; that the Lord 



202 "Besurgam." 

has prospered his preaching of the Word ; that in 
the crown which the Righteous Judge shall give 
him, will appear many stars as seals to his ministry. 

The body of our Father sleeps in the beautiful 
cemetery, well called Fairview, a mile outside of 
Bowling Green. There the birds sing, the branches 
wave, the flowers bloom, and the summer breezes 
chant a requiem. But lie is not there. He is 
absent from the body. He is present with the 
Lord. 

To the heavenly visitants that stand guard over 
his consecrated dust, he speaks forth the language 
of that hymn, the comfort of his last hours, the 
consolation of his bereaved ones, and the prophecy 
of his resurrection : 



Ye angels that watched round the tomb, 
Where low the Redeemer was laid, 

While deep in mortality's gloom 
He hid for a season his head. 

Ye saints who once languished below, 
But long since have entered your rest, 

I pant to be glorified too, 

To lean on Immanuel's breast. 

O, sweet is the season of rest, 
When life's weary journey is done ; 

When the blush spreads over its West, 
And the last lingering rays of the sun. 

Though dreary the empire of night, 
I soon shall immerge from its gloom, 

And see immortality's light 

Arise on the shades of the tomb. 



"Bezurgam." 203 

Then welcome the last rending sighs 
When these aching heart strings shall break, 

When death shall extinguish these eyes 
And moisten with dew the pale cheek. 

No terror the prospect begets, 

I am not mortality's slave, 
The sunbeam of life as it sets 

Paints a rainbow of peace on the grave. 










Wmim 



